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Interesting stories from around the world on social issues, parenting and society.
We herald April with the Hunger Games, harried mums and a Haitian crusade among other things.
Her only lapse was – she spoke the inconvenient truth. Melissa Petro shares her disquieting story of social excoriation. “There is a stereotype that current or former sex workers are so highly sexualized that all we think about is sex, but I’ve found that it is people with no experience in the sex industry whatsoever who can’t get our business off their minds.”
In Haiti, a social organization is changing the prevalent rhetoric for the LGBT community.
“From teen magazines choosing to air brush away the slightest hint of baby fat to kids being constantly bombarded with messages about branding, food and self-image (such as kids being sold sugary foods while being held up to an impossible thinness standard), fact and fiction lead an uneasy co-existence in children’s lives.” – Sujatha articulates a parent’s angst on dystopian teen fiction.
Reflection – Psych Babbler on body image.
“It can get ludicrous, that list — never-ending and self-propagating like a fungus producing spores. Maybe more like bacteria doing binary fission, dividing to recreate without cease.”– On to-do lists and work-life balance.
Life comes full circle for this mother but with a twist. This one makes for an engaging read.
“…by handing her dolls, makeup, and a mini-cooking set while buying her brother scalectrix, the message being sent across is ‘you need to look after things, be pretty, and stay in the kitchen’ while telling boys ‘use your brain, analyse, build things, and have fun doing it.’” – Compelling lines from Chandrika who writes on foisting gender divides through toys.
With a little awareness and a few habits, we can make Earth Day a daily affair.
*Photo credit: Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games from Collider.com
New mommy on the block. Bookworm, nature-lover and wayfarer in the suburbs of imagination. Fascinated by the power of the written word. And the workings of the human mind. read more...
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Calling a vaginal birth a 'normal' or 'natural' birth was probably appropriate years ago when Caesarian births were rare, in an emergency.
When I recently read a post on Facebook written by a woman who had a vaginal birth casually refer to her delivery as a natural one, it rankled.
For too long, we have internalized calling vaginal deliveries ‘normal’ or ‘natural’ deliveries as if any other way of childbirth is abnormal. What about only a vaginal birth is natural? Conversely, what about a Caesarian Section is not normal?
When we check on the health of the mother and baby post delivery, why do we enquire intrusively, what kind of delivery they had? “Was it a ‘normal’ delivery?” we ask.
Many women have lost their lives to this darkness. It's high time we raise awareness, and make maternal mental health screening a part of the routine check ups.
Trigger Warning: This deals with severe postpartum depression, and may be triggering for survivors.
Motherhood is considered a beautiful blessing. Being able to create a new life is indeed beautiful and divine. We have seen in movies, advertisements, stories, everywhere… where motherhood is glorified and a mother is considered an epitome of tolerance and sacrifice.
But no one talks about the downside of it. No one talks about the emotional changes a woman experiences while giving birth and after it.