Pregnancy: Facts and Fiction, what Every Feminist Should Know!

by Sabrina Smith

(pictures: Chaz)

Pregnancy is one of the few things that most women will experience. What I mean is, most women will get pregnant at one stage or another in their lives; however feminism seems to turn a blind eye to this occurrence, especially third wave feminism and younger feminists.  There are countless third wave feminist message boards and websites that speak about music, but very few that address pregnancy, motherhood and birth. This leaves feminists vulnerable to media-led and un-feminist views about one of the most natural and collective experiences of womanhood. Currently, All I would like to do is address some of the myths and some of the facts and perhaps generally discuss my overall experience of being pregnant and being a feminist. I’m not saying “rush out and get pregnant” or anything like that. I just want to express how it’s felt for me and perhaps one day you’ll think back to this article, if you ever get pregnant, and be armed with a little bit of extra knowledge that they don’t tell you!

chaz3.pngAt the time of writing this I’m a twenty-seven year old feminist who resides in the UK with my partner and I’m currently seven months pregnant with my first child. I know it’s a boy and I know when he’s due. I’ve been to all the appointments, been to all the scans and we are both pretty healthy. Basically it’s considered a normal pregnancy. I’ve sectioned off things I wanted to say into various headings, both to organise my brain and for easy reference for you.

Antenatal Care

I’ve always been vaguely horrified that most doctors I have dealt with are male. Midwives are female it seems but they tend to act in a nursing capacity. Doctors are still male when you are pregnant and give birth and you will barely see one. The UK has a NHS facility which basically means that all your basic antenatal care is free. My experience is that this is pretty great, but don’t expect the best care. Anything that is considered “non basic” is extra and you will have to seek it out yourself and then be charged for it. Remember those TV shows where antenatal classes are a series of breathing techniques and funny positions often with hilarious consequences? It’s a lie. You will NOT be told about them by the midwife. She will inform you of a one off class, at the hospital you give birth if you are lucky, and it will be information for the birth. The 6 or 8 classes on the TV were once provided (your parents and/or your partners parents may tell you they still exist) but are not deemed “necessary” now.  This is fairly scary especially if you are a first time mum or a single parent or an expectant mother at all! The National Childbirth Trust (NCT) do the classes now. They are a charity and I’ve found it pretty hard to find one locally to me. They also cost around £200, but I think they are worth it if you can afford it. The elimination of these classes also eliminates the right for women who live on a lower income to have that basic knowledge and rights in birth and primary care of their child.

Read the rest of this entry »

 

This text appeared in Wolverette #4, “Mixed Issue”.

I’m a pretty communicative person. I am known to talk to everyone if I’m in a good mood and I guess I am lucky that it has always been quite easy for me to get to know people.
alone&coolOn the other hand, I need a certain amount of alone time, an amount that I consider a bit more than average.
Somewhat normal, I’d say. It’s balanced out and I am happy that way. It seems to make sense, doesn’t it? When I want people around me, I’ll find them and if not, I just get out of their way.
Whenever I am in the mood to just, well, not talk to anybody but still don’t wanna sit around in my own room I tend to frequent cafés or bars, looking for a table with a good view (cause you know, watching people can be extremely entertaining!) and often I take a good book with me.
And you know what? This causes a problem. Not for me in the first instance! I like it that way, hey, after all I chose to be there! But when it comes to the male population of the place I’m at – well, often they don’t seem to understand what the hell I am doing there.
So the usual occurence is that sooner or a later a guy will come up, asking me what I am reading or what I am doing.
Despite the common predjudice that people who want to be alone must be in a kind of bad mood, I usually don’t care (as long as they at least ask before they sit down, behave respectfully and yadda yadda, you know…). Sometimes I happened to get to know interesting people that way!
Naive as I tend to be (oh the bliss and woe of overestimating people’s motives!) it took me a while before understanding why I frequently get „visitors“ at my table and why they are male in 90% of the cases.
Sure, there are the ones who wanna flirt and whatnot – I get that, I’m not bloody stupid! But as for the rest, well, I just thought they are the folksy type of people or – who knows? – maybe they actually are interested in the book I read.
Okay. Not saying that this is never the case but most of the time it wasn’t. The reason was the simple fact that me, a woman, is sitting there, without company.
I bet all women have sooner or later heard the classic scentence „What is a pretty lady like you doing here, all on her own?“ or at least the one or other version of this stupidity.
It seems to be absolutely NUTS to identify as female and be alone in a public space – not being ditched, not waiting for someone. Read the rest of this entry »

Yay! In the next time I’m gonna put the contributions from Wolverette #4, Mixed Issue online (one by one). =)

Image

ALSO: we have still left many copies of the 5th issue, themed eating disorders.

So go get it!

Issue #5: Eating disorders

Posted: September 30, 2012 in Current Issue

“Underweight is overrated” – by Hadass S. Ben-Ari

“I can’t control myself” – by Annegang

Survey “Riot Grrrls and Eating”

Interview with Maike Reimer from Hungrig Online

“My beautiful self is too fat” – by Marta

“Queering eating disorders” – by Janna Storey

“The eye of the beholder” by Susa Wagner

…and much more stuff. =)

Get da Numba 5 =)

Posted: September 17, 2012 in Current Issue, How to get the zine

Sorry for the unexpectedly long hiatus – Wolverette #5 is ready for so long now but it just wasn’t possible to distrubute it till now… long story… whatever.

Some things are new though – better price!!!

Meaning,

Germany: 2,50€ /1 zine or 4€/2 zines

UK: £ 2,00/ 1 zine or £5/ 3 zines

Rest of Europe: 3€/zine or 8€/ 3 zines

USA: 4$/zine

So if you want your copy of Wolverette Zine #5, please write to wolverette AT yahoo dot de, then I’m gonna send you the Paypal info (do NOT send the money to this e-mail above! The Mail addy for the paypal account is different!)

We also accept  German stamps as payment, as well as zine trades or any decent other trades (mixtapes, stickers,… whatever equals the “worth” of a Wolverette copy) – just contact us by E-Mail (again, the Mail addy is: wolverette AT yahoo dot de)

Again, sorry for the incredibly long wait! Hope, you’re all well and kickin’ ass.

xoxo

P.S. a more detailed description of wolverette #5, what’s inside and stuff, will follow.

New issue, new theme

Posted: November 9, 2011 in Uncategorized

see? bye-bye green gal tho =)

The baby’s there finally!
Contributors’ gratis issues are on their way already (btw – Hadass, Joanna & Annegang, if you want a gratis copy, too, please e-mail your postal addresse!).
But before sale is officially on, I need to make some adjustmemts (sshhhh… paypal here we come!), you’ll hear from us!
xoxo