Saturday, March 31, 2012

Do you choose Submission or Joy?

Submission or Joy is a phrase from a novel I am reading about the 1930s in Mexico. It has nothing to do with childbirth in the context in which I read it. But it resonated with me immediately.
Do you choose to give birth in the hospital? Do you choose to submit your body, your baby, your birth to their requirements, to their meaningless and sometimes brutal, arbitrary and patriarchal rule? Giving birth is a political act. You must not submit, but give birth joyfully, as a political act of love. Take charge, act politically, give birth joyfully.