Milli Hill: I will not be silenced

It's also hypocritical of birth rights. Not long ago they were happy with woman centred language. They've expunged it from their Web site, but it lingers in the things their staff have done in the past-

Maria Brooker
"Maria was previously UK General Manager of Maternity Neighbourhood (a US based, midwife-led company developing a woman-centred electronic maternity record."

Rebecca Brione
"Until recently she was Vice-Chair of her local Maternity Voices Partnership , and monitored care and decency for women in prison as member of the Independent Monitoring Board for HMP Downview."
"She carried out the research on the experiences of women facing multiple disadvantage in partnership with Birth Companions."

And they don't stick to their own policy of always saying women and birthing ppl. From earlier this month-
"“Induction proposals ignore black and brown women’s experience of maternity services” says Birthrights."

So are they going to sever relations with themselves?

I'm really disgusted by the way birth rights behaved. The quote from the ceo- that she was especially horrified to see milli had said that obstetric violence is violence against women. They obviously have no feminist analysis. Actually pretending that this type of abusive act is not a type of violence against women & girls. If we can only ever talk about abuse of birthing people, discrimination against lactating individuals, taboos or other discrim against mensteuators, but always pretend we can't join the dots and see what those disadvantaged people have in common - then we can't actually name the problem in its full context. Solutions are not possible because they require us to see this as largely the way society (and in this case medical establishments) treat women. It's about being female. It's not the only aspect but it's a central one.

The ONLY people who get pregnant are women. The ONLY people who give birth are women. To say anything else is insane. It shouldn't be brave to say it, but it is

for Milli - impressive bravery

Assoc of Radical midwives published their summer issue last week.

I love ARM but struggled to read an article which featured Woman* constantly. The asterisk then went on to add '& birthing people'. There were different styles throughout the issue. I give it 2 more issues before women is not used by ARM.

Severing women from their reproductive rights, be it in conception, pregnancy and birth is not a feminist act, it's a male supremacist act.

It also fits neatly into the commercial surrogacy narrative with women as breeders so that men can have "access to a uterus" as a certain gay man who has been in the news regarding surrogacy so nicely put it Floral .

I have followed her on Instagram now and she's shared an article about this. I'm glad to see she's got mostly positive and supportive comments, with just a handful of people saying they won't be following her now because she's not inclusive in her language. It's a shame to see that, I hope they realise what they're asking of her, what they are giving away and may never get back.

Millie and people like her reawakened my feminism after I became a mother. I realised that childbirth is a feminist issue. I ran a positive birth group and an infant feeding group. The beauty of both is that they are communities of women supporting women.

I am so disappointed in Birthrights, an organisation founded by women, to challenge the prevailing culture of birthing women being ignored and infantilised, or worse, abused or assaulted. Birthrights was radical in that it looked at childbirth through the lens of human rights and feminism. They have let themselves, and Millie, down.

Yes FloralBunting, all of this feeds very neatly into male supremacist aims. Very neatly indeed.

I’m going to order her book on periods for my sons to read when they start learning about puberty. I’m a huge admirer of Milli Hill and I hope she knows there are plenty of women supporting her.

Some tiresome comments from indoctrinated women on her Instagram post… Inclusion is a cake etc.

Exactly FloralBunting, my examples may have been rather extreme but I am genuinely concerned about the movement to get men “equal” rights in abortion. Not only to veto abortion but also to force it in the case of “I am not ready for fatherhood yet” perhaps not in the USA but it could happen in other places where abortion has been less controversial but where women’s rights are being eroded by gender identity and queer theory.

In the USA I have already heard of “community” being involved with pregnancy choices when women have been prosecuted for supposedly causing their pregnancies to end in miscarriage through substance misuse or dangerous driving or being in the wrong place at the wrong time and getting shot.

Canada.

www.jccf.ca/nurse-being-investigated-by-college-of-nurses-for-her-gender-critical-views/

I'll point out that one of the effects of shifting from woman-centred care and severing the link between a woman and pregnancy, making it about a 'person's choices' rather than a woman's autonomy feeds very well into anti-abortion rhetoric that has been trying to control women for decades. There's a significant anti-abortion argument that demands a man have equal say in permitting a termination. Severing women from their reproductive rights, be it in conception, pregnancy and birth is not a feminist act, it's a male supremacist act.

Thank you for posting this OP.
I make a point of buying JK Rowling's books, and I'm off to order Milli's books too.
It's a small way in which can support women's rights

Appalling abuse and bullying. The response of Birthrights is especially craven and just disgraceful. Milli is a damned good writer.

I’ve preordered the book on periods for my daughter.

So fed up of this - hope it is starting to change.

Well done to Milli for speaking out. I'm so disappointed in Birth Rights. I used to think they were a really good organisation. I'm sure they still do good work but this blog suggests they may have lost their way a bit.

I'm another who'd never heard of her, so thanks for sharing this and spreading the word. I'll look at her books about periods with a view to buying them for my daughter.

Jeez that is depressing and frightening. Although it is definitely a testament to the ideological grip being loosened that she feels able to write it at all.

Thank you Mlli. You have done a courageous thing. And it's absolutely the right thing.

This ideology thrives on fear, and the fear diminishes every time someone else speaks out.

And women are speaking out.

It is old that people don't realise that if you confine areas of women's oppression, to the specific task they are undergoing, no dots will get joined.

But I have to say, calling birthing people the fragile sex takes the fricken biscuit.

Partly because they know absolutely what sex they are talking about, but can't bring them self to say the word woman.

But also because they are calling an entire sex, birthing people. Not just the ones who are giving birth. And actually use the category sex to describe them.

Their whole raison d'etre is recognising sex, so shoehorning the ideology into a statement about it, is more tricky than they thought.

Have just read the article in Sunday Times.
Difficult to believe the mentality of the people who oppose her.
More strength to her.

I should have added Totalitarianism.

Vigilantism. Mob rule.

A big part of the current problem is that the ‘bar’ for what is transphobic has been set so low that it even incorporates statements of fact such as ‘humans are sexually dimorphic’ or ‘only female people give birth’. Recently I stated that there were two sexes in a facebook discussion with midwives and was told I should ‘respect other people’s beliefs’. I find it worrying that biology has somehow changed category from ‘science’ to ‘religion’ in this way. But even if we accept this, it should not therefore follow that those of differing beliefs are persecuted.

This. Absolutely this.

Woman centred care seems to be morphing into

parent centred care - the inseminator as equal partner in making decisions about the treatment of the gestator

family centred care- great aunt Lydia says the gestator should be sedated with chloroform and great aunt Lydia’s opinion is just as important as the gestator’s, 3 year old sibling-to-be also has important and valid opinions that the gestator should not leave the house and that great aunt Lydia should take the product of gestation back to her house as soon as it is removed from the gestator so that 3 year old sibling-to-be can have the full attention of the gestator once more

And bizarrely according to lll USA, although in relation to breastfeeding but I suppose eventually it will be applied to pregnancy and birth

Community centred care- the local religious leader has some input on how the gestator should bring forth the product of gestation, the local parent group want to observe the removal of the product of gestation from the gestator for educational purposes, their needs are equal to those of the gestator after all the gestator already has 3 year old sibling-to-be so it is only fair that a community member without a uterus be given the product of gestation this time around.

Who owns birth? The woman experiencing it is the only one who should be centred in childbearing.

Here’s the LLL USA mission statement for anyone interested, today’s quiz question how many times are the words woman or mother used? No prizes I am afraid.

lllusa.org/about-us/

We desperately need people more people like Milli to stand up for childbearing women. We need an organisation to rally around. I would have thought of

The Association of Radical Midwives
The Association for Improvements in Maternity Services
La Leche League GB
The Association of Breastfeeding Mothers

None of them are openly and explicitly stating their support for woman centred and mother centred care and language.

It is astounding that these particular organisations are not standing up for women.

There are no doubt many volunteering and working for women in maternity and there is no organisation that they can join to show support for the woman centred approach.