Category: reducing stigma

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The Importance of Being Seen: Trans Day of Visibility & Pink Shirt Day

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When I was a kid, we were taught that not seeing differences, or being “colour-blind” was the right way to be “tolerant” and “accepting” of diversity. We hear echoes of this sentiment when we hear “They can do whatever they want behind closed doors, but why do they have to flaunt it in our faces?”

March 31 was Trans Day of Visibility and April 10 was International Day of Pink. Both observances attest to the importance of being seen as an integral dimension of human rights and inclusion. People who can only be their authentic selves behind closed doors can’t hold their same-sex partner’s hand during the anatomy ultrasound, or tell their care team that they want to be called “Papa” after they give birth. People who are forced to hide their identity behind closed doors are at risk of getting beaten up in bathrooms and dying by suicide behind closed doors. Trans people need to be seen so that kids like Nex Bennedict can go to school safely. Behind closed doors is exactly where abuse and violence hide.

Having safety to be seen means being able to fully participate in society. It boils down to countless everyday things that people take for granted when their identities are not contested. Being able to use public washrooms without risking confrontation or violence. Accessing information on reproductive health that normalizes your body and healthcare experiences. Not being asked to explain where your partner is at prenatal appointments when they are in the exam room with you. Being able to find pregnancy attire that aligns with your usual style.

Trans and queer people need to call for visibility and wear pink to get noticed so that we can lead normal lives.

As birth workers, here are some things we can do to help queer and trans folks feel seen in the reproductive and perinatal wellness sphere:

  • State explicitly in your promotional materials that you welcome and affirm queer and trans people
  • Use gender-neutral language in your promotional materials and handouts
  • Have open conversations with clients about their preferred pronouns and terms for their parenting roles and body parts.
  • Become familiar with resources in your community that support queer and trans families so you can make great referrals.
  • Educate yourself on health inequities faced by queer and trans birthers
  • Challenge queer and transphobia in yourself and others

You can find out more about Trans VisibilityVisibilty Day here

You can find out more about International Day of Pink here

 

Keira Grant (she/her) Inclusion and Engagement Lead – Racialized Communities

Keira brings a wealth of experience to the Online Community Moderator role. She is a Queer, Black woman with a twenty-year track record in Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) education, projects, and community building initiatives.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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7 things you Should know about Menstruation and Why a Fertility Doula can Help!

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”491531″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][mk_padding_divider][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1679506139819{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]A menstrual period is the monthly shedding of the uterine lining. Menstruation is also known by the terms menses, menstrual period, menstrual cycle or period. Menstruation is a normal and healthy part of life for most people with a uterus and no matter what you think you know about it age, hormones or even the weather can change how a person menstruates and how it feels ( A reason for why connecting with a Fertility Doula is a good idea!). Period facts are often obscured by myths about menstruation.  Most people with a uterus get their first period between the ages of 10 and 15 and continue to have their period until their late 40s or early 50s.

So let’s talk about some period facts:

  1. You loose less blood than you think you do: First off, you need to know that only approx. 50% of menstrual fluid is blood. ‘Menstrual fluid’ is not the same as ‘blood’, menstrual fluid also contains cervical mucous and vaginal secretions. On average a person loses anywhere between 1-6 tablespoons of menstrual fluid during each period. It can be thin or clumpy and varies in colour from dark red to brown or pink.
  2. It can take up to 3 years from the beginning of menstruation for your period to become regular: It’s common for cycles to be somewhat unpredictable for about two years after the first period. This means periods may not always come at the same time every cycle. Your periods may also look and feel somewhat different cycle-to-cycle. The first period may be quite short, with only a little bit of bleeding and the second period may be longer with more bleeding. After a couple of years, your cycles should become more regular, but may still continue to vary. Most cycles settle into a predictable rhythm about six years after menarche (the onset of your period).
  3. The average menstrual cycle is about 25- 30 days but not always: The average length of a menstrual cycle is 28 days. The days between periods is your menstrual cycle length. However, a cycle can range in length from 21 days to about 35 days and still be normal. Most people have their period (bleed) for between three and seven days. Once you reach your 20s, your cycles become more consistent and regular. Once your body begins transitioning to menopause, your periods will change again and become more irregular. From the time of your first cycle to menopause, the average menstruating person will have around 450 periods in their lifetime.  Added up, this equates to around 10 years — or about 3,500 days — of the average menstruating person ’s life that will be spent menstruating.
  4. Steps of your Cycle: The rise and fall of your hormones trigger the steps in your menstrual cycle. Your hormones cause the organs of your reproductive tract to respond in certain ways. The specific events that occur during your menstrual cycle are:
    1. The menses phase: This phase, which typically lasts from day one to day five, is the time when the lining of your uterus sheds through your vagina if pregnancy hasn’t occurred. Most people bleed for three to five days, but a period lasting only three days to as many as seven days is usually not a cause for worry.
    2. The follicular phase: This phase typically takes place from days six to 14. During this time, the level of the hormone estrogen rises, which causes the lining of your uterus (the endometrium) to grow and thicken. In addition, another hormone — follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) — causes follicles in your ovaries to grow. During days 10 to 14, one of the developing follicles will form a fully mature egg (ovum).
    3. Ovulation: This phase occurs roughly at about day 14 in a 28-day menstrual cycle. A sudden increase in another hormone — luteinizing hormone (LH) — causes your ovary to release its egg. This event is ovulation. However, some people do not ovulate or they ovulate at different times, more about this later.
    4. The luteal phase: This phase lasts from about day 15 to day 28. Your egg leaves your ovary and begins to travel through your fallopian tubes to your uterus. The level of the hormone progesterone rises to help prepare your uterine lining for pregnancy. If the egg becomes fertilized by sperm and attaches itself to your uterine wall (implantation), you become pregnant. If pregnancy doesn’t occur, estrogen and progesterone levels drop and the thick lining of your uterus sheds during your period.
  5.  Let’s talk about ovulation: Ovulation usually happens once each month, about two weeks before your next period. Ovulation can last from 16 to 32 hours. It is possible to get pregnant in the five days before ovulation and on the day of ovulation, but it’s more likely in the three days leading up to and including ovulation. Once the egg is released, it will survive up to 24 hours. If sperm reaches the egg during this time, you may get pregnant. Some people with a uterus do not ovulate regularly. This is common in the first two to three years after your periods start and during the lead-up to menopause. Some conditions, such as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and amenorrhoea (when periods stop due to excessive exercise or eating disorders) may cause irregular ovulation. Individuals with certain hormone conditions do not ovulate at all. It is possible to ovulate and not have a period after. It is possible to get pregnant without having periods in several months, but the chance of pregnancy of much lower when you are not having periods, compared to when you have regular periods. It is also possible to experience monthly periods without going through ovulation first- this is considered abnormal and is the result of something called an “anovulatory cycle”.
  6. Your periods get worse when it is cold: This is definitely an amazing period fact: cold weather can impact your period, making it heavier and longer than normal. During the winter months, a menstruating person’s flow, period duration, and even pain level are longer than in the summer. This pattern also extends to women who live in colder climates rather than warmer temperatures. The seasons can also affect your PMT too — the darker, shorter days can adversely impact your mood when combined with female productive hormones. This is thought to be because of a lack of sunshine, which helps our bodies to produce vitamin D and dopamine — which both boost our moods, happiness, concentration and all-around health levels.
  7. Periods after Pregnancy: After birth, your periods will return at your body’s own pace. It’s possible for your periods to return as soon as 4 to 6 weeks after childbirth. If you bottle feed or partially bodyfeed your baby, you’ll tend to start having periods sooner than if you exclusively bodyfeed. If you choose to bodyfeed exclusively, your first period may not return for several months. For those who keep bodyfeeding, it might not return for 1 to 2 years. The range of “normal”, is enormous. Experiencing a menstrual period does not mean that your menstrual cycle has returned permanently and without an accurate clinical test, you won’t know whether or not you ovulated (released an egg and could potentially become pregnant). You are more likely to ovulate and resume regular periods if your baby is going for more than a few hours without breastfeeding (for instance, at night) and your baby is more than 6 months old. Many bodyfeeding parents experience a time of delayed fertility during breastfeeding. This is very common and is referred to in many places as the Lactation Amenorrhea Method (LAM) of contraception. However it is important to remember that you can get pregnant while nursing, even without a period.

These 7 facts are just the tip of the iceburg when it comes to understanding your body and menstruation. If you have questions, whether you are trying to get pregnant or not a Fertility Doula can help with that![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][mk_padding_divider][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”491536″ img_size=”medium”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_btn title=”Download the infographic here” color=”turquoise” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fstefanie-techops.wisdmlabs.net%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2023%2F03%2F7-things-to-know-about-your-cycle-1.pdf|target:_blank”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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Anti-racism work birth Business Canada Childbirth Educator collaboration community connection Equity fear intersectionality Postpartum Doula pregnancy reducing stigma research shame Trauma understanding bias vulnerabiliity

Recognizing Asian Heritage Month and Jewish Heritage Month

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1653215730289{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]May is Asian Heritage Month and Jewish Heritage Month. It’s a great opportunity to reflect on what we mean by “heritage” regarding the history of these two communities in “multicultural” Canada, and what this means for creating cultural safety in birth work.

I’ve lived in the GTA my whole life. Here, a “heritage festival” typically amounts to a street party with food, live music and dance, and other culture-specific entertainment. I am actually a great lover of a good street fair. The food and performances are usually lit. I have also learned a lot about Jewish and Asian history and culture at events like the Ashkenaz Music Festival and Taste of Asia. I also understand that many communities are not fortunate enough to have this level of exposure to culture and diversity. But these cultural displays are not only far from telling the whole story of the “heritage” of Asian and Jewish people in Canada, but they also contribute to “false peace” – the illusion that multiculturalism is working out, that we are all getting along, and that we are all equal.

In truth, there is anti-Asian racism and anti-Semitism at the core of Canada’s heritage. Those of us who remember “Heritage Minutes” from the 1980s and 90s may know about the lethal exploitation of Chinese migrant workers that occurred in the 19th century to support the construction of the trans-Canada railroad. There are many other examples, including the head tax, and internment camps during WWII. 

Anti-Semitism is equally a part of the fabric of Canada’s history. Wide-spread belief in a Jewish conspiracy to achieve global economic domination that originated in Europe and spread to North America made Jewish Canadians an easy scapegoat during the great depression. Additionally, to limit the economic advancement of Jewish immigrants in the early 20th century, Canadian universities implemented quotas that restricted the number of Jewish applicants who could be admitted to the school.

It’s easy to hear these stories and think “this has nothing to do with me”, “this is ancient history”, “I didn’t do these things”, and “let’s focus on the positive and how far we’ve come”. While these sentiments are understandable, the reality is that the present arises from the past. These uglier parts of our heritage are directly related to more recent attacks on synagogues and the hate crimes experienced by Asian Canadians during the pandemic. 

Moreover, this heritage underpins the modern assumptions that manifest more subtly as microaggressions that affect the day-to-day navigation of society and impact the long-term mental and physical health of equity-seeking people. Some of these stereotypes may seem harmless or even positive. But in reality, they fuel the construction of whiteness as the social norm, put people in boxes, and create false impressions regarding people’s realities.

As birth workers, we can create cultural safety regarding the beautiful and the traumatic aspects of each client’s heritage. We can create space for them to share whether they have any cultural or religious traditions that they would like to honour. And we can also be mindful of things like how common stereotypes about Asian women may influence provider perceptions of client autonomy. Or how the intergenerational trauma of Holocaust survivors may impact pain management. There are a number of ways that our identities can impact our pregnancy and parenting journey. Shining a light on the good, the bad, and the ugly of our heritage sets us up to ask the right questions and facilitate the needed conversations with all of our clients.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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Intersectionality: Why Looking Beyond Identity is Key in Sex and Birth Support

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If you’ve perused my course on Sex & Birth, you’ll notice that an entire module/week is devoted to intersectionality and voices from the margins right at the start of the course, so that these ideas remain with us throughout the rest of the weeks. Why is this important, you ask?

First, I want to introduce you to a very important person: Jasbina Justice, the editor of the Sex & Birth Manual.

I could not have done this work without the guidance and brilliance of Jasbina Justice. Jasbina Justice is an Intersex Femme queer person who is mixed. They are South Asian and Caribbean. They are a settler living on colonized land known as Tkaronto, Turtle Island, land of the Haudenosaunee, Anishinaabe, Mississaugas of the New Credit, Huron-Wendat and other Indigenous peoples. They live with an invisible disability and have Complex PTSD. They have been running workshops, doing consultations, and generally working in equity and social justice for the last five years. They are a poet, writer, multimedia artist, performance artist, community educator, facilitator, former sex worker, and yoga teacher.

As a white settler, I knew I was going to need some help! It was working with Jasbina that helped me understand these 4 important reasons for the inclusion of intersectionality in this course:

#1 Intersectionality is the understanding that the totality of our person cannot be understood by merely looking at each of our identities in isolation. Rather, it is at the intersection, or where these identities meet, where unique and compounded oppression’s can be found.

The term intersectionality was coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw in the late 80’s when she was trying to find a way to explain black women who experienced obstacles not just because they were women and not just because they were black, but because they were both black and women. Here is a great video of Crenshaw breaking down the definition. This is important in sexuality education because…

#2 Most sex education in Canada is taught from a white, colonial, cisgendered, able-bodied, heterosexual, middle-upper class, educated, incomplete perspective.

Though about 72.5% of Canadians identify as white, this number continues to drop and dramatically changes depending on the area. In Tkaronto, specifically, more than 50% of folks belong to a visible minority (you can see the stats Canada breakdown here). In Saskatchewan, the indigenous population is predicted to increase threefold by 2045.

In 2012, 11% of Canadians had some kind of physical or mental disability that limited their day-to-day life. Sex and disabilities is often disregarded at all levels of education (elementary, highschool, undergraduate), unless someone is specifically seeking to learn about this topic.

Although the percentage of trans or intersex folks who birth is relatively small, it is all the more reason to make sure we are not lost in trainings because we are often lost in the literature and research.

When you belong to a minority group, it is easy to feel isolated and not have information that is relevant to you. This exclusion from information is dangerous to all aspects of our health, including sexual health.

Continue reading “Intersectionality: Why Looking Beyond Identity is Key in Sex and Birth Support”

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Why Sex & Birth Support Person? With Tynan Rhea

Doula Canada in partnership with Tynan Rhea is offering our Sex and Birth Support Person Training again starting October 1st. Below, Tynan discusses the importance of this training and why discussing sex with clients is a vital part of pregnancy and postpartum support . 

When I give talks to professionals on Sex & Birth, or when I go to talks about integrating sexual health questions into any health profession, there’s one phrase I hear all too often:

“If my client has any questions, I trust that they will ask me.”

But here’s the thing… no they won’t! Okay, maybe sometimes, but more often than not people will not come forward with their sexual health questions.

Why won’t people ask? Because they’re ashamed. Or embarrassed. Or they’re scared they’re not normal, that their care provider will treat them differently, or ignore their question, or make them feel like they did something wrong. Many of us find the topic of sexual health emotionally charged. I teach about it for a living and I still get a little anxious bringing up a sexual health concern with a new doctor. Not because I am ashamed or don’t feel I have a right to healthy sexuality, but because I don’t know what my care providers politics are if they don’t bring it up. I don’t know if this person is comfortable, knowledgable, or even indifferent. I do know that sex is a huge stigma for some folks still, and because of that stigma they may directly or indirectly shame me because of their own discomfort. Meaning, their response to my question could psychologically harm me. That’s a big deal!

That’s why as front-line birth professionals we have an obligation to directly ask our clients if they have an sexual health concerns or questions. That also means, we need to educate ourselves on what kinds of sexual health needs folks might have during conception, pregnancy, labour, or the postpartum period. That doesn’t mean we have to know everything, you are definitely allowed to say, “that’s a great question! I’m not sure what the answer is, I’ll look into that for you and in the meantime, here is a great referral.” It does mean we have to take initiative, though, and be open to listening to our client’s needs.

What’s as important as knowledge, is also self-reflection. Has someone ever told you about a food they love to eat that made you want to gag? More than one of my family members hates chocolate, like, really hates it. Luckily, because most people I know love chocolate at least half as much as I do, I don’t feel ashamed for my love of chocolate when so-and-so closes their eyes and makes a gag sound. Sex is similar and in a very important way also different. Because sex is so taboo, and most of us have felt some kind of judgement or shame for some aspect of our sexuality over the course of our lifetime, it’s all the more important to check-ourselves.

Catch that micro expression of disgust before it happens! Be open to different forms of sexual expression and needs. This doesn’t mean you have to do it! It does mean you have to think about it, reflect on it, and maybe even challenge yourself: where did this assumption come from? What disgusts me about this? What excites me? Why do I think this is okay/wrong/neutral?

Self-reflection also means not trying to inflict our politics or sexual preferences onto our clients, either. If someone just isn’t into sex before marriage or hitting up swingers clubs, that’s their business and their choice. It doesn’t matter if swinging was your gateway into a personal sexual revolution- that’s your story and it’s valid! But it doesn’t mean it’s theirs. It can be difficult to know the difference sometimes (I’m guilty of it, oh goodness), but that’s why self-reflection is so vital!

The Sex & Birth Personal Support Worker course is designed to help you gain the knowledge and skills you need to ask the right questions and find the right answers, as well as reflect on your own experiences as a sexual being so you can hold space for your clients. You don’t have to know everything, and you don’t have to love everything, but you do have to provide reproductive health support and part of that support is about sex!

So, instead of “if my client has any questions, I trust that they will ask me,” let’s start acting from a place of, “if my client has any questions, I’ll know because I asked.”.

Tynan Rhea is a settler with German and Czechoslovakian ancestry. Tynan has a private practice online and in Toronto as a counselor, aromatherapist, and doula specializing in sex, intimacy, and relationships throughout the reproductive years and founder of PostpartumSex.com. Tynan graduated from the University of Waterloo with a Joint Honours Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Sexuality, Marriage, & Family. They received their doula training from the Revolutionary Doula Training program and their aromatherapy training with Anarres Apothecary Apprenticeship program. Tynan is currently enrolled at Yorkville University doing their Masters of Arts Counselling Psychology degree. Tynan approaches their practice from sex-positive, trauma-informed, anti-oppressive, and feminist frameworks. Find Tynan on Facebook, Instagram @TynanRhea or TynanRhea.com