Reclaiming pregnancy/birth

Posted by Anon on September 08, 1999 at 17:20:02:

In Reply to: Re: A way of expressing hopes and fears posted by Amy C on September 07, 1999 at 23:45:42:

: : When women are excluded from participation in the
: main
: : religion (can't be priests, rabbis, imams, mullahs...whatever)
: women
: : tend to develop things of their own to extablish some sense of
power
: : over their own lives and address their own needs,

I have a friend who found some very secret female astronomy in a
society where it was forbidden to women (I suppose they were afraid if
the women knew how to navigate, they might leave).

: And can you think of any more appropriate place for this sort of
: assertion of female power than in a hospital where predominantly men
: (although, thankfully that's changed a lot) tend to want to take
: control of the birth process,
[...]
: The fact that they were so "girly" (with fringes & sparklies) in
: particular asserted the fact that you were crossing a boundary into
a
: female realm, not only physically but also socially and spiritually.

This is great! Much better than claiming office space with posters.

I know one tradition involves henna-ing a woman in the 8th month - and
I'm under the impression that pregnant-belly designs are popular.
Actually, the thought of a henna party for an expectant mother (that's
HENNA party, not HEN party) is highly appealing to me, as a social
ritual. Have you seen any births from henna'd women? Might there be
some of the same "this is my realm" affect on the birth attendants?
(Well, okay, maybe it would be too unfamiliar and not sufficiently
encompassing...still, I'd like to hear of any relevant experiences!)
I guess I'm also now wondering about the henna-like floor patterns
(I'm sure there could be some safe medium for them, even in a hospital
or birth room) as a way to have an effect on attendants.

Follow-ups:

• everyone Catherine Cartwright Jones 18:14:35 9/08/99 (1)
  • Re: everyone Becky M. 19:41:14 9/08/99 (0)