Independence: Our Bodies, Ourselves

As we start the month of July we celebrate Independence day in America. It has left me contemplating the idea of independence. Our country was founded by revolutionaries asserting the desire to rule under their own governance, their own power. This feels akin to the current state of women’s independence, especially in regards to our power over our bodies.

I recently watched a documentary (see link below), She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry (2014), and Virginia Whitehill, civil rights activist, poignantly expresses,“You’re not allowed to retire from women’s issues. You still have to pay attention because someone is going to try to yank the rug from under you.” Women have been fighting for freedom and governance over our bodies for over fifty years, but we cannot retire from the fight.

For me the fight is lodged in education and advocacy. When I say educate, I don’t mean just teaching our young people about their bodies and their rights. I mean talking about all the parts of being a woman. Women are often meant to feel shame about our bodies and the changes happening within our bodies. Shame cannot survive when it is released through the speaking of our truths and tales. I remember taking my first Women’s Studies course in college and getting my hands on the seminal book, Our Bodies, Ourselves. I gobbled it up because it talked about women’s reproduction and sexuality. I felt the same way when I was a kid and read, Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret, about a young woman going through puberty. And today, I’m reading The Menopause Manifesto, a phenomenal read about women’s health by Dr. Jen Gunter.

Books have been integral guides in my education about my body, but I encourage us all to go a step beyond the books. We need to be talking more regularly about women’s health without shame. Did you know the Latin root word for clitoris is klieo, which translates to hide? I think it is fascinating to understand that there is a long history encouraging women to hide and be ashamed to speak about their bodies. Time’s up and we need this new revolution of women to break whatever limitations continue to exist around educating everyone about women’s health.

This leads me to advocacy. It struck me that the week leading up to Roe v. Wade being overturned, I had the majority of my female clients sharing about self perception issues regarding their bodies, their abortion experiences, fertility history, miscarriages, and for some, a general confusion about what is happening within their body and its impacts on hormonal changes. I always encourage my clients to be advocates for their health because we are the only ones who can truly speak to what we are experiencing. It is shocking how often I hear tales of people getting medical advice that is less than thorough or doesn’t address the issue at hand. Please trust your gut when it comes to medical situations and advocate for your best health.

With advocacy, I’m also referring to supporting and fighting for organizations that provide unbiased, apolitical medical care. Educate yourself about the organizations, spread the work about their services, donate money, and/or volunteer hours. We need to become a network of information for all that don’t have access to the information or services.

We are far from the retirement of the fight for women’s power over their own bodies, but I believe strength in numbers through education and advocacy will prevail.

I’ll leave you with this, “I raise up my voice, not so that I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard. We cannot all succeed when half of us are held back.” ~ Malala Yousafzai

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