Masculine Birth Ritual

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,...

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...

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 col...

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 ...

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 fe...

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...

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 birt...

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 ...

In Episode 5 Rabbi Elliot Kukla talks with us about Jewish birth rituals, Yiddish women's traditions surrounding fertility and birth, non-binary parenting, and the documentation of gender-queer, non-binary, and intersex people within the Jewish tradition. He is the first known ordained Trans Rabbi and is a nonbinary Papa to a 3-month-old baby.

Show notes and tra...

The interview today is with Vanya Hollis, a butch birth parent and high school science teacher. We talk about gender, conception, challenges in lactation, the politics of biological sex and the “need” for people to know, and parasites of the chosen variety. We also dig into feelings about queer community ethos vs. her and her partner’s social experience of having a new baby. 

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