Call for submissions focusing on pregnancy, birth, post partum, baby and breastfeeding.
For and by: mothers, friends and allies of mothers, doulas, midwives, birthworkers, childbirth educators, childbirth advocates,
Intention: to create a zine for pregnancy, birth, and the first year of motherhood centering the lives of working class, marginalized mothers and birthworkers.
Submit: photos, drawings, visual art, poems, essays, fiction and non-fiction, tips, suggestions, lists of resources
Outlaw midwives: creating revolutionary communities of love
Some suggestions for topics on which you can submit (these are just suggestions):
- Suggestions for those trying to conceive. And for not conceiving. Stories of conception, abortions and miscarriage.
- What are the social, economic, legal consequences and limitations for marginalized mothers to make choices about how, when and where they will give birth.
- Tips for the first, second, third trimester. Relationship with doctors, clinic, midwives, family, friends, etc.
- How do our ideas of gender and sexuality influence how we view childbearing, midwifery, and parenting?
- Your take on reproductive justice?
- How do we resist the high infant and mortality rates?
- What are the ways that community could support the childbearing year, mothers and families?
- How have you navigated through the systems of welfare, protective child services, hospitals, etc?
- Reflect on the state of midwifery today. What do you see as the positives and negatives? How has legalization and licensing affected mothers and families access to care?
- What would you want to tell a soon to be mother about pregnancy, birth, and early motherhood? Or write a letter to your pre-mother or pre-pregnant self about what you should expect. What didnt you expect to happen/learn/experience in pregnancy, birth, the baby year? Write a letter to you daughter and/or son about what you learned/want to pass on about pregnancy, birth, baby year.
- What was your personal experience/story of birth? Pregnancy, the baby year?
- What did you learn/are you learning from the baby year?
- What do you wish someone had told you about early motherhood and/or being a birth worker?
- What do you wish you could have said to someone, but didnt?
- What is your vision/ideal of how pregnancy, birth, baby year could be?
- What family/traditional wisdom did you receive about pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding? What practical tips do you have for working poor mothers?
- Breastfeeding vs. Bottle. What are the social, biological and economic influences and consequences of the choice to breastfeed or bottle feed?
- What to do with the placenta? Placenta art, consumption, burials?
- Why did you become a birth worker? What has been the highlights of the experience? What have been the difficulties?
- What does ‘outlaw midwife’ mean to you?
More information here.
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