Project Proposal and Link to Group and OPEN INVITE TO FIRST "EVENT" May 2nd

Project Proposal

The Burgeoning Belly and Everything After

     In looking to incorporate some of my personal life to the topics we explored this semester in Women and Media I found that a discussion/forum group on pregnancy was the perfect middle ground. Body image, sex politics, reproductive rights, gender rights, patriarchy…these all fall into the discussion of what women go through during the pregnancy period and the changes that occur after.

Many topics swarm pregnancy and the changes thats the women incur. There was the body shaming with Kim Kardashian and then the outrage of Sarah Stages small physique during her pregnancy. Breastfeeding in public is shunned and made out to be a shame even though there are ad's that display barely dressed models. Other topics are the lack of conversation dealing with postpartum depression and how to overcome these issues. The expectancy that the women is responsible for the child rearing when in fact it should also include the partner as well.

With this proposal in play, I have created a facebook group and am hosting it's first "event" on May 2nd  at 4pm in Astoria (anyone is welcome)where discussion points will be brought up in relation to body image shaming, the competitive nature amongst mothers and reproductive rights. I hope that this initial meeting will become a monthly event where new and expectant mothers can discuss relevant and current issues that we as women deal with. And as time progresses I hope to get more structured and organized points.

The group page linked below will facilitate some of the conversations that could be explored. Postings can be made by any member and the group is public. Several friends of mine who are actually medically trained doulas and are nurses will be "guest speakers".


https://www.facebook.com/groups/667579043345988/668651316572094/?notif_t=like

After each monthly meet the goal is to produce brochures to both inform about reviewed discussions and future topic points as well as to invite new people and grow from there.