Give Birth like a Feminist

This week is the last episode of series 1, and I’m thrilled to be speaking to Patricia Cordeiro. Patricia is a mother of two boys, a journalist, a writer, and a doula. She has been an activist for the birth movement in Brazil since 2013, and participated in the group that stood up for Adelir Carmen in 2014, when Adelir was forced to have a c-section for the birth of one of her daughters. It was at this time that myself and Patricia connected, when she translated Adelir’s first hand account...

On this episode I speak to Cynthia Overgard for a one hour special about birth in the USA. Cynthia is founder of HypnoBirthing of Connecticut, LLC and host/producer of the Down To Birth® podcast @downtobirthshow. She has authored numerous articles in award-winning international publications and has personally worked with thousands of women and couples through pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum since 2007. She is certified in HypnoBirthing and is trained in Perinatal Mood and Anxiety...

This week I’m talking to Dr Alice Keely, a specialist midwife with 15 years of experience who is passionate about supporting plus size pregnant women. Between 25 and 50% of women fall into the category of having a ‘high BMI’, putting them on the back foot in a system that already focuses excessively and unnecessarily on risk, causing, she says, even more rules and restrictions, anxiety and stigma. You can find Alice via www.theheavyweightmidwife.com Instagram:...

On this week’s episode I talk to Kim Thomas, CEO of the Birth Trauma Association, about birth trauma and the really vital topic of consent in the birth room. Kim is also a journalist and has written two books about birth trauma and postnatal PTSD. You can find out more about the Birth Trauma Association at www.birthtraumaassociation.org.uk. If you have experienced birth trauma and need support, you can contact the charity’s team of peer supporters at support@birthtraumaassociation.org.uk....

In this episode I’m speaking to midwife and hypnobirthing expert Maureen Collins. When I was writing and researching Give Birth like a Feminist back in 2018, I spoke to Maureen, who at the time was Head of Midwifery for One to One Midwives, a service that since 2010 had offered a caseloading midwifery model – this basically means when women are cared for by a midwife they get to know and trust – in the North West of England and Essex. This One to One service was free to women under the NHS,...

In this episode I talk to Mara Ricoy Olariaga also known as Matriactivista, a birth educator, activist, radical feminist, poet, writer and medical interpreter. Mara founded the global movement against obstetric violence known as The Roses Revolution, and has published 3 books in Spanish about feminism, birth and its representation in media and movies. She is also a mother of three children, and the lead in Sexual and Reproductive Rights for the feminist organisation FiLiA. To find out more...

Today my guest is Hannah Dahlen, Professor of Midwifery in the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University, and midwife for more than 30 years. Hannah has over 250 research papers and book chapters to her name and in 2019 she was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for her significant services to midwifery, nursing and medical education and research. Her focused determination to end birth trauma and bring about lasting improvements...

In this episode I speak to Holly Dunsworth, a biological anthropologist and Professor of Anthropology at the University of Rhode Island. Holly’s work came to my attention when I was researching Give Birth like a Feminist, and discovered she had challenged a theory called The Obstetrical Dilemma. You might not be familiar with that name, but you WILL be familiar with the ideas behind it, essentially that childbirth is more difficult for us humans than for any other mammal, because we’re an...