Natalie Jolly on Childbirth and Femininity

Natalie Jolly on Childbirth and Femininity

Global Fest was full of many eye opening sessions which caused most of the Annie Wright Student body to reflect. Today (march 8th) the second and last day of Global Fest began with a variety of speakers. Natalie Jolly an anthropologist visited Annie Wright from UW Tacoma today to talk about childbirth and femininity.

For me personally, the talk was really interesting and eye-opening. Jolly talked about how childbirth in today’s society is sometimes considered unfeminine because of the expectation that women should be fragile, small and skinny. She referenced how celebrities across the board turn to C-section births and speak openly about how they would never have a natural birth. In today’s society, many women feel their body is not capable of withstanding the pain of birth because of the stigmas associated with childbirth. She talked about her times of working as a assistant to a midwife in the Amish country of Pennsylvania and how she noticed women were not at all scared to give birth. Instead, women were proud and confident. She noticed that women were much more proud of what their body was capable of —