Tonight’s screening will also include a discussion of two related readings: “Neoliberal Policy as Structural Violence: It’s Links to Domestic Violence in Black Communities in the United States,” by William L. Conwill, and “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color,” by Kimberle Williams Crenshaw. For more information, or to get copies of the readings, please contact J. Hale-Gallardo.

This is the story of one simple invention, the vibrator, and its relationship to one complex human behavior, the female orgasm. The history of the vibrator and its medical use had virtually vanished until historian, Rachel Maines, researching needlework patterns in early 20th century women’s magazines, ran across ads for electric vibrators.

Piquing her curiosity, she traced the origins of this early electrified appliance and made an astonishing discovery. Under the guise of a medical treatment, Victorian doctors had used vibrators to relieve women of symptoms of hysteria. Symptoms of hysteria were vague – being cranky, reading French novels while wearing tight corsets, etc. It was a disease manufactured by doctors creating a lucrative clientele and a mutually camouflaged procedure that satisfied both. This film looks at the evolution of women’s sexual satisfaction from its use by Victorian doctors to its resurgence during the sexual revolution of the 1970s and on to its status today, when in some states laws still exist that restrict the number of vibrators one may own. 2008/ 74 mins/ USA/ NR

For viewing times and ticket prices visit the Hippodrome website.

“For just about everybody, adolescence means having to confront a number of choices and life decisions, but rarely any as monumental as the one facing 15-year-old Alex who was born an intersex child. As Alex begins to explore her sexuality, her mother invites friends from Buenos Aires to come for a visit at their house on the gorgeous Uruguayan shore, along with their 16-year-old son Ãlvaro. Alex is immediately attracted to the young man, which adds yet another level of complexity to her personal search for identity. This sharp directorial debut by Lucia Puenzo treats the challenging subject of intersexuality with intelligence and sensitivity. 91mins/ 2007/ Spanish/ subtitles”

Letter from Playwright/BOLD Founder, Karen Brody

You have BOLDly arrived in your seat today to watch a performance of a play that offers a portrait of how low-risk educated women are giving birth. I’m always surprised at the number of people I meet every day who know nothing about giving birth, have never heard a mother tell her birth story (have you asked your mother your birth story?) and are shocked to learn how hard it is to have a powerful birth experience in a hospital today.

At this BOLD (Birth On Labor Day) performance and talkback you have the opportunity to lower the number of “unknowing” people when it comes to childbirth; you have the chance to listen to women make birth sounds that for so many of us are unfamiliar and more than a bit uncomfortable; and you have the space to process feelings and questions that come up when you see a play that portrays a medical system struggling to deliver birth services that work for mothers.

BOLD is a global movement of people standing up for safe birth choices for mothers. What’s unique about the performance is that all over the world over one hundred BOLD performances of the play Birth are happening as part of a global commitment in communities to tell the story of birth through mothers’ voices. Finally, childbirth and mothers take center stage.

I urge you to listen deeply to the birth stories on stage and the issues discussed in your BOLD talkback. And while you are listening stay hopeful. We can rewrite the script of childbirth. This “we can” attitude is what BOLD is all about. Now is the time to be BOLD.

Excerpt from Christiane Northrup, M.D. author of Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom

How we are born is crucial to how we live the rest of our lives. Birth leaves a deep imprint about what to expect in life on both the mother and the baby. Right now, the United States Caesarian-section (C-section) rate is up to an all-time high of over 30 percent. (In some hospitals it’s as high as 50 percent.) The World Health Organization’s recommendation for industrialized nations is that the C-section rate be no higher than 10-15 percent. That’s what it is in Holland where most babies are still born at home!?

As an ob/gyn who first did my training when women were drugged senseless during labor with what was known as “twilight sleep,” I have dedicated many years to helping women wake up (literally) and find the empowerment and wonder that their bodies are capable of during birth. Birth was never designed to be a major surgical procedure! C-sections have four times the mortality rate for the mother as normal births. And most can be avoided entirely if a mother is truly supported in labor—and well-educated. That’s the point of the BOLD movement.

Glossary
Epidural – regional anesthesia resulting from injection of an anesthetic into the epidural space of the spinal cord; sensation is lost in the abdominal and genital and pelvic areas; used in childbirth and gynecological surgery

Episiotomy – a surgical incision through the perineum made to enlarge the vagina and assist childbirth. It is one of the most common medical procedures performed on women.??

Contraction – a forceful and painful motion of the uterus as part of the process of childbirth.

Induce – a method of artificially or prematurely stimulating labour in a woman

Cervix – the lower, narrow portion of the uterus where it joins with the top end of the vagina. During labor, repeated uterine contractions lead to widening of the cervix. Completion of dilation is at 10 centimeters. Delivery of the infant usually takes place shortly after this stage is reached.

Breech – refers to the position of the baby in the uterus such that it will be delivered buttocks first as opposed to the normal headfirst position.

Doula – an assistant who provides various forms of non-medical support (physical, emotional and informed choice) in the childbirth process.

OB – Obstetrics is the surgical speciality dealing with the care of a woman and her offspring during pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium (the period shortly after birth). Midwifery is the equivalent non-surgical specialty. ?

Recommended Reading
Emergency Childbirth: A Manual by Gregory J. White
Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin
Farmer and the Obstetrician by Michel Odent
Spiritual Midwifery by Ina May Gaskin
Wall Street Journal – August 5, 2008 – Birth Trauma: Stress Disorder Afflicts Moms

Cast
Jessica Charapata (Beth)
Jenny Hill (Natalie)
Janese Nix (Janet)
Mary Rainer (Jilllian)
Joy Steiner (Vanessa)
L’Tanya VanHamersveld (Lisa)
Naomi Whitely (Amanda)
Katie Kirkpatrick (Sandy)

This special event will take place at 5:30 p.m. in Weil 270. Here’s the abstract:

This talk will discuss recent performative ethnographic work in the Goth/Industrial music scene as the band “Blood Jewel” and how through the medium of cyber space this has led to different kinds of engagements with ethnographic “subjects”. The cultural meanings of sexual and violent representation, challenges to normative sexualities, and the emergence of digital subjectivities and ontologies are then examined in relation to the emergence of a post-human anthropology.

My name is George Marek, I am coordinating a major community world AIDS day mobilization event here in Gainesville and would like invite your organization to participate. The event will coincide with the Annual community AIDS walk that is sponsored by Black AIDS Education and Services the morning of Saturday December 6th, 2008 at 10am.

The premise of the event is to unite all of the University Students, Community and Faith based organizations around Gainesville against HIV/AIDS. We will provide important HIV/AIDS related information geared towards Gainesville’s diverse population, and provide free on site HIV testing.

The event which we are calling “Gainesville’s Stompin’ out AIDS” has major support from University student organizations, community and faith based organizations. Honorary Sponsors are the local chapter of the NAACP and Black Aids Services and Education (BASE). This event will provide vital information to the people of Gainesville concerning how we can partner and take action against the spread of HIV in our communities through education and mobilization. This is an amazing opportunity for your organization to make a real difference in the community while developing strong ties with many other groups. The event will be held at Gainesville’s Downtown Plaza from noon until 3pm. Please mark your calendars and help us invite and promote the event.

We need groups to fill many different roles in the event from, choirs, dance teams Producing, Radio Station sponsors, singers and presenting posters, to preparing materials for the event. We are in the process of finalizing support from National Recording Rap Artist Tay Dizm to make a guest appearance among many other key leaders in the community.

Please contact me as soon as possible to let me know if you are interested in joining our community in this effort.

Thank you,

George Marek
Gainesville World AIDS day 2008 Mobilization Coordinator
Minority AIDS Program, Alachua County Health Dept
352-217-8576
gainesvilleHIV@gmail.com

Visitors to the Harn Museum of Art will be entertained by a live string quartet and a poetry reading by students in the University of Florida graduate poetry program. At 7 p.m. the Harn MUSEs (Museum University Student Educators) will engage participants in activities that explore the numerous ways humans express love. Visitors can also enjoy the monumental Harn exhibition Paradigms and the Unexpected: Modern and Contemporary Art from the Shey Collection, which opens Feb. 10 with 100 works by 75 artists.

At the Florida Museum of Natural History at 7 p.m. Shauna Springer will offer a talk entitled the “The Science of Love: What Science Teaches Us About How to Choose a Mate and Maintain a Strong Relationship” detailing the psychology behind how couples express and experience love. Celebrations Catering will provide various desserts for visitors to enjoy as they explore the museum all evening.

If you’re looking to stimulate your brain in addition to your heart on Valentine’s Day, then these events are for you.

The trailer touches on several key themes of this course. First, it points out that the American experience of birth is unique in the world. Second, it suggests that birth, like other aspects of sexuality, is a cultural event as much as it is a biological one. Indeed, cross-cultural variation in the expectations for pregnancy and birth may have important biological consequences for how we get our start in the world.

The local screening of this new documentary is being hosted by the Birth Center of Gainesville and the International Cesarean Awareness Network (ICAN). It will take place at the Gateway Grand Hotel at 6:30 p.m. For details and information about tickets, see the ICAN website.