Realities of Pregnancy: My abortion story

I started to talk about my journey to parenthood a few weeks ago, with Realities of Pregnancy: Infertility.

As I mentioned towards the end of that post, my OB/GYN quit practicing. I was really busy with work, so I didn't find a new one. When my birth control prescription expired, I went off of it, but continued my Fertility Awareness tracking. (FA is basically like Natural Family Planning, except that where NFP practitioners are abstinent during the fertile phase, FA accepts barrier contraception).

I keep pointing back to Libby's Love, Joy, Feminism, to compare and contrast her Evangelical homeschooling Biblical Patriarchy with my Catholic, parochial-school Biblical Patriarchy. And, like Libby, when I was a child and was asked how many children I wanted, I thought I wanted a large family. Looking back at my own life, I'm not even sure why. I think I thought that I liked being part of a large family.

Music Monday: We Can't Stop parody

Following some of my posts last week, the video below came across my Facebook feed some time ago. Note that it is NOT about me, and should not imply anything about my condition. As I disclosed last week, that would be difficult.

No, I wanted to share this as a combination of the #RealitiesOfPregnancy, the thread on #BiblicalPatriarchy, body autonomy, and also reproductive justice.

Feminism Friday: Purity Culture

One phenomenon that has swept the U.S., particularly conservative Protestants, is Purity Culture.

Love, Joy, Feminism has a great collection of articles on the subject, the practices, and the problems with it.

I think one of the most damning commentaries on Purity Culture comes from Elizabeth Smart. The counter-example, then, is the story of the $20 bill. Crinkling it up in a ball, dropping it in the dirt, stepping on it - whatever you do to the $20 bill, it is still worth $20. It doesn't lose its value.

Realities of Pregnancy: Infertility

One of the subjects I thought I might get to on this blog last fall, had to do with my own journey to parenthood.

Some of my experiences have been shared on Twitter, under several different hashtags: #RealitiesOfPregnancy, #ShoutYourAbortion, #7MonthsAwesome, to name a few.  I've been slower to write about them here, for several reasons: 1) they're politically charged, 2) they're very personal. But I think it IS important to share, because they are relevant to laws both on the books and under consideration today.

My journey to parenthood was not straightforward. So today, I'm going to begin writing about my Infertility.

Parenting, Discipline, and Authority

This is the fourth post in my series on Biblical patriarchy. It has been on the back burner for a while, but recent events have brought it back to my mind again. I'll start with this meme, which has been circulating on Facebook. (I don't know who created the image.):

In Biblical households, this concept of respect is given additional emphasis, because one of the 10 Commandments is to "Honor thy father and thy mother." (Whether this is the 4th or 5th Commandment, depends on whether you use the Jewish, Catholic, or Protestant enumeration.)

Cautions for religious exploration

Twenty years ago, when I was first researching Wicca and the neo-pagan movement, it seemed as though every site had articles about how to find a teacher, and cautions about what to avoid in a group.

Somewhere between then and now, the conversations suggested that all the warnings were doing more harm than good. Most neo-pagan groups are doing well to "herd cats," they aren't attempting to forge a group-thinking cult.

However, I've read some articles recently regarding ISIS recruiting, that suggest a few cautions are in fact in order.

One of the classic neo-pagan resources was developed by Isaac Bonewits. He calls it the "Advanced Bonewits' Cult Danger Evaluation Form," or ABCDEF. Here's one link to the form, many copies exist on the interwebz.

Also on the more new-agey side of the house, there is a very old book, Chop Wood, Carry Water: A Guide to Finding Spiritual Fulfillment in Everyday Life. In particular, they quote Ram Dass' "How to Keep Perspective Along the Path," and Daniel Goleman's "Things to be Wary of when Shopping the Spiritual Supermarket."

Cult tactics often take a page from the same #AbuserDynamics, isolating people from their friends, discouraging them from talking with other people, asking you to keep secrets. Know the red flags of people who do not have your best interests at heart.

Gender roles (for Grown-Ups)

This is the third post in my series on Biblical Patriarchy. For previous posts on this topic, I'll refer you to the Introduction and Gender roles (for children), both of which define terms and clarify the particular splinter of Biblical patriarchy that I grew up under.

I want a number of links on this subject, which may take longer to locate. Therefore, I will probably intersperse this series with posts on other topics. I still plan to continue with the posts outlined in the Introduction.

Gender roles (for children)

This is the second post on my experience related to the Biblical Patriarchy movement. As stated in the introduction, my own experience is different from the "typical" Fundamental or Evangelical homeschooling crowd that may also be Quiverfull. My family of origin was devoutly Catholic, with Charismatic influences.

Since I was not raised within that "more common" set of groups, I'll start with a link to Love, Joy, Feminism's definitions and breakdown of the definitions: "Evangelicalism, Fundamentalism, Christian Patriarchy/Quiverfull, and the Homeschool Movement". With one caveat. In this link, Libby Anne links Christian Patriarchy/Quiverfull as synonymous. I distinguish Quiverfull as a subset of Biblical Patriarchy.

Also, I say "Biblical Patriarchy" rather than "Christian Patriarchy," because I am peripherally aware of Jewish Patriarchal groups as well. However, I'm currently writing about what I know, at the intersection between Catholicism and the above movements (within Christianity). I may choose, in future posts, to do the research that would link in Jewish Patriarchal blogs or articles, if my time permits.

Gender roles for children within Biblical Patriarchy

Biblical Patriarchy Intro

I'd like to go back, first, to my experience with the UU church. UUs believe in the Beloved Community, and that by following the 7 Principles, by working to build a community that loves and respects each other, and treats people with dignity, we can create a bit of heaven here on Earth.

The family religion I grew up with had similar but different beliefs. As I understand my parents' teachings, they believed that "heaven on Earth" would come when everybody on this planet chose to live Biblically. (Exactly which Biblical lifestyle, was not necessarily as clear.)

My parents tried to teach us to live in the world, but not of the world.

With this series, I hope to raise awareness that Biblical Patriarchy includes a wide range of beliefs AND faith traditions