E14 | Meeting People Where They're At

Our final episode is an interview with new Papa, yoga and Buddhism teacher Jacoby Ballard. We talk about the Germination Proclamation he and their partner put out to friends and family, gender and parenting, and preparing to welcome whatever being emerged during birth.  "I really learned from putting out our Germination Proclamation that really it was like an instruction manual for our families and communities for how to love us in this moment. That was really helpful to everyone from uncles to comrades to see. I think that would be helpful for any parent despite your gender or sexual orientation/identity. It was putting forth a manifesto of how we wanted to be in the germination period and how we wanted to be parents and how we want to ask our communities to rally around us. Since then, people really have shown up in the ways we asked them to. I think even if we hadn't given them clear directions even our most beloved and closest friends might have had some missteps." https://www.facebook.com/jacoby.ballard http://jacobyballard.net/

In this interview, Rachel L. Kaplan and I talk about their experience with preterm birth. A friend of Rachel's recently pointed out that there aren't a lot of queer voices being heard about the neo-natal intensive care unit (NICU), and even fewer from masculine of center folx -- so she suggested Rachel check out Masculine Birth Ritual. Rachel is an Assistant Professor at the University of California, San Francisco and takes off the professor hat to describe some of the personal challenges of a traumatic preterm birth followed by three weeks in the San Francisco Kaiser NICU.   

Our interview today is with Amanda Hayden. Amanda is a certified lactation counselor, social worker, and full-spectrum labor & postpartum doula trained through Ancient Song Doula Services practicing with the NYC Doula Collective. She works a doula and provides counseling and programming support for trans and gender-non-conforming people who are family-building including adoption, family planning, and building relationships. In this episode, we talk about the personal complexity of gender and how they approach ritual and support work with trans and GNC pregnant people and families. Amanda Hayden: https://www.amandahaydendoula.com/ http://nycdoulacollective.com/ Show notes, transcription, and contact: www.masculinebirthritual.com Instagram: @masculinebirthritual Patreon: patreon.com/masculinebirthritual

In E13 I talk with Charlie King-Miller about Charlie's experience giving birth in a hospital setting, trying to get listed as "father" on his baby's birth certificate in Colorado, and how he navigated care when he felt that providers weren't listening.    Show notes at: www.masculinebirthritual.com

In E12 I talk with Greta LaFluer. Greta is an Associate Professor of American Studies at Yale University. They're the author of a book called The Natural History of Sexuality in Early America. In this conversation, she and I talk about western medical ideas about gender and approaches to birth in this period, the ways that genderqueer and Masculine of Center people are found (or not found) in the colonial archives, how legacies of white supremacy and violence are historically tied to white genderqueer AFAB masculinities, and the way sex and gender were understood in the 18th century colonial U.S.

In this interview, Rae Goodman-Lucker and I talk about his experiences in preparing for pregnancy and birthing two children. She shares about her struggle to get doctors to believe the severity of his pregnancy fatigue, how he planned a community ceremony in preparation for pregnancy, and her perspectives on pain management during birth that are derived from queerness. Our kids are playing around us as we talk for this recording, so there's also some really cute moments of parenting in action.   Show Notes: masculinebirthritual.com/episodes Instagram, FB: @masculinebirthritual Twitter: @Masculinebirth Patreon: patreon.com/masculinebirthritual

In Episode 10 I talk with Takeya Trayer. Takeya is an artist, mommy to three children, a teacher, and the author of a children's book "My Mommy is My Daddy." In this episode, we talk about her homebirth experience, her community's response to her pregnancy as a Masculine of Center person, how she navigated and exited homelessness while parenting two small children, and her series of paintings that feature Black and Indigenous MoC pregnant, nursing, and nurturing figures.   You can find Takeya's work at takeyaart.com. Show notes for this episode can be found at masculinebirthritual.com/episodes This episode was recorded on Ohlone Territory.   

In episode 9 I talk with Miriam Zoila Pérez, the author of the Radical Doula Guide and a reporter that writes about the impacts of racism on birth and health outcomes. We talk about the impacts of racism on birth outcomes, what works to buffer the health effects of discrimination, and what the research tells us about the impacts of discrimination on health in general. They talk about why they started the Radical Doula website and how doula culture in the U.S. has changed in the 10+ years since then. In min 36-59 we talk about joy practices, visioning the future we want, and house plants.   MBR:  masculinebirthritual.com | patreon.com/masculinebirthritual Twitter: @MasculineBirth  Instagram/FB: @Masculinebirthritual Pérez: miriamzperez.com Recorded on Ohlone Territory.

E8 | He Was With These Wonderful Queers: an interview with J Carroll on nonbinary single parenting and birth In Episode 8 we talk with J Carroll about their experience of pregnancy, birth, and parenting. J is a transmasculine, nonbinary, queer single parent by choice. In this episode, J and I talk about embodiment, how they were supported by their queer community and their family of origin after birth, and how gender influences parenting culture when you're nonbinary. Show notes, transcription, and contact information are available at: masculinebirthritual.com Support the show at: patreon.com/masculinebirthritual      

Midwife Sara Flores-Boudreaux joins us for Part 2 of a conversation about supporting MoC two-spirit, queer, trans, and genderqueer people in birth, wellness, and life. We talk about what she's learned about body sovereignty from MoC people, the opportunity for rituals in the model of midwife care, and the relationship between ritual and cultural connection to ancestry and tradition. We also dig into white supremacy as it intersects with the model of obstetrics, the colonization of midwife culture by white women, under-compensation of BIPOC birthworkers by white clients, and the way it contributes to white people being divorced from their own cultural and spiritual traditions. The conversation ends with a discussion about cis/transmasculine tensions in interpersonal relationships. www.masculinebirthritual.com @masculinebirthritual (Instagram) @MasculineBirth (Twitter)