I hadn’t heard about this but I’m definitely going to look it up. I think I will need to be in the right mood though, so perhaps not immediately. You are so right about the taboo surrounding women’s bodies. It often feels effortful to articulate female experience. In primary school one of the aims of the RSE (relationships and sex education) syllabus is to introduce and normalise the use of the language of male and female anatomy without stigma or embarrassment. It’s surprisingly hard to do, even with ten year olds but is definitely a step in the right direction.
Poor teachers, we really do expect them to sort *everything* out. I used correct anatomical terms for vulva etc with my kids from when they were very little, but I remember cringing as I did it and feeling like a parody of a middle-class mum. And yes, DR disappeared without much of a trace - it looks like they were hoping for a second series but didn’t get one. Definitely worth a look.
The former Tory MP Theo Clarke goes into exactly this level of detail in her new book, Breaking the Taboo. She describes her birth injuries using the correct words and describes exactly what happened to her, and shares a number of other women's stories too. When she spoke about her experiences in the House of Commons and led a Parliamentary inquiry into birth trauma, I felt like it empowered news organisations to write about it more, and not before time. Her book is a very tough read but it's incredibly brave.
Thank you, and yes - I read an interview with her a couple of days ago and was struck by how matter of fact the interviewer (Rachel wotsit from the Times) was about the physical impacts. Clarke is very impressive. I think it’s notable, though, that it took an MP to do it (I think she has worked with Mumsnet a little bit on this issue - after my time). The fact that parliamentary speech is privileged, that an MP can get up in the chamber and say pretty much anything and if it’s interesting enough the press will cover it - it feels like that was an important part of the process in her campaign being successful. Not to take away from what she’s achieved, at all, but it’s significant that just ‘thousands of women are saying this’ wasn’t enough to break the communication barrier.
I hadn’t heard about this but I’m definitely going to look it up. I think I will need to be in the right mood though, so perhaps not immediately. You are so right about the taboo surrounding women’s bodies. It often feels effortful to articulate female experience. In primary school one of the aims of the RSE (relationships and sex education) syllabus is to introduce and normalise the use of the language of male and female anatomy without stigma or embarrassment. It’s surprisingly hard to do, even with ten year olds but is definitely a step in the right direction.
Poor teachers, we really do expect them to sort *everything* out. I used correct anatomical terms for vulva etc with my kids from when they were very little, but I remember cringing as I did it and feeling like a parody of a middle-class mum. And yes, DR disappeared without much of a trace - it looks like they were hoping for a second series but didn’t get one. Definitely worth a look.
The former Tory MP Theo Clarke goes into exactly this level of detail in her new book, Breaking the Taboo. She describes her birth injuries using the correct words and describes exactly what happened to her, and shares a number of other women's stories too. When she spoke about her experiences in the House of Commons and led a Parliamentary inquiry into birth trauma, I felt like it empowered news organisations to write about it more, and not before time. Her book is a very tough read but it's incredibly brave.
Thank you, and yes - I read an interview with her a couple of days ago and was struck by how matter of fact the interviewer (Rachel wotsit from the Times) was about the physical impacts. Clarke is very impressive. I think it’s notable, though, that it took an MP to do it (I think she has worked with Mumsnet a little bit on this issue - after my time). The fact that parliamentary speech is privileged, that an MP can get up in the chamber and say pretty much anything and if it’s interesting enough the press will cover it - it feels like that was an important part of the process in her campaign being successful. Not to take away from what she’s achieved, at all, but it’s significant that just ‘thousands of women are saying this’ wasn’t enough to break the communication barrier.
But credit to her for recognising the power of Parliamentary privilege and deploying it in such a way. It shows how important representation is.
Absolutely