Year: 2017

Our 2017 Letter from the Director

Posted on

As 2017 comes to a close, I feel a tremendous sense of gratitude for the privilege of leading Faith in Women and for what we have been able to accomplish together over these last two years. Let me take this opportunity to thank each of you for your support and partnership in transforming Mississippi for all women and girls who deserve to live their lives with dignity, health, and joy. We simply could not do this critical work without you.

Despite the challenges of these political times, there is still much to celebrate as we progress towards achieving our vision of accessible reproductive health care and education for all of Mississippi’s women and girls. I want to share a snapshot of some of our programmatic highlights from the past year and reveal some of what we are planning for 2018.

Sexuality Education

To strengthen our sexuality education programs, we received a $25,000 grant from the Women’s Foundation of Mississippi. Reducing teen and unplanned pregnancy rates is one of the foundation’s top priorities, and we are grateful to partner with them in providing effective prevention through evidence-based, medically accurate sexuality education. Faith in Women is using these funds to assess training options, curriculum choices, and resource development for our clergy and faith leaders.

In 2016 I was accepted into the Mississippi Sex Ed Training Cadre, a group of health and education professionals across the state who are committed to advancing quality sex education for Mississippi youth. As part of this program, this spring I co-taught a training class with Hope Crenshaw of Teen Health Mississippi to equip a group of Jackson and Delta-based advocates with facilitation skills to better prepare them to teach safe, evidence-based, non-judgmental sexuality education programs in their communities and faith spaces. We did this in partnership with Delta Hands for Hope, a Cooperative Baptist-affiliated youth outreach organization based in Shaw, MS.

Reproductive Health

We are always working to find new ways of engaging in meaningful conversation around issues of reproductive health, rights, and justice. In May we launched our first ever virtual book club. A group of faith leaders and advocates across the state read Dr. Willie Parker’s best-selling book Life’s Work: A Moral Argument for Choice and engaged in dynamic group discussions via video conference. We are planning more book clubs for 2018, so please stay tuned!

The success of our book club laid the groundwork for our September event at Millsaps College featuring author Dr. Willie Parker, a Christian reproductive justice advocate and ob/gyn. More than 50 faith leaders, health providers, students, and advocates attended our evening of conversation with Dr. Parker. Our event also included comments from Rev. Dr. Cari Jackson, Executive for Religious Leadership and Advocacy for the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC). We look forward to partnering with RCRC on some of our faith leader engagement initiatives next year!

Faith Advocacy

In January of this year I had the opportunity to speak at the Sister Solidarity Rally held in Gulfport, MS, one of hundreds of local marches and rallies that coincided with the national Women’s March on Washington, D.C. I was proud to voice my belief, in front of an audience of over 300 people, that women and girls have sacred worth and that my faith supports access to life-giving reproductive healthcare for all people. Several of our Faith in Women members also attended local rallies around the state in cities like Jackson, Oxford, and Gulfport. Together we offered our witness as people of faith who stand for the rights of women and girls.

Sojourners, an ecumenical organization committed to social justice, hosted its annual Faith Leaders Summit in June in Washington, D.C. Faith in Women was invited to facilitate a breakout session with over 30 faith leaders from across the country to discuss how we engage with our supporters in sustainable, long-terms ways, especially those who are new to advocacy. This was a great opportunity to grow our network beyond the state of Mississippi and connect with like-minded organizations doing similar work around the country.

Looking Forward to 2018

I am pleased to announce the good news that the David and Lucile Packard Foundation has renewed our grant funding for two more years! We are grateful for their ongoing support of our mission to engage faith leaders in advocating for comprehensive reproductive health care and sexuality education.

Thank you again for all of your remarkable work, support, and encouragement over this last year.  I look forward to more shared work together in 2018 and beyond!

With gratitude,

Ashley Peterson
Director, Faith in Women
Ecumenical Coalition for Women and Families

November Resource Review: More Podcasts We Love

Posted on

At Faith in Women, conversation is key. Listening, learning, and engaging with complex ideas shared by a diversity of voices helps to shape our understanding of the world and improve our ability to make the world a more just and compassionate place for others, especially for women and girls. Podcasts are one of our favorite new ways to listen in on fresh and interesting conversations from afar!

What exactly is a podcast again? A podcast is a form of audio or video media that can be downloaded and listened to on-demand at your own time and pace. Podcasts may feature a solo host, one-on-one interviews, or conversations among several people. The best part about podcasts is that nearly all of them are completely free, and you can watch or listen to them on your phone, tablet, or computer. Are you new to podcasts and not sure how to get started? Click here for detailed instructions on how to set up and find podcasts on your listening device.

With thousands of free podcasts available right now, and with more new shows launching daily, we have compiled a list of our current favorite podcasts for their stellar content, thoughtful questions, and meaningful conversations. If you’re looking for a fresh way to stay up-to-date on the latest issues affecting women and girls, consider subscribing to a podcast (or two!)

Did you know that some of our staff have a podcast?

We’re excited to feature in our list of recommendations a new podcast called Kindreds, co-hosted by Faith in Women’s very own Ashley Peterson and Katey Zeh. Look for more information at the end of this post!

 

 

Recommended Podcast Subscriptions and Series

 

“It’s a Real Mother” four-part series by The Longest Shortest Time

Main Topic: Working Motherhood

Podcast description: “Stories about the surprises and absurdities of raising other humans—and being raised by them. The Longest Shortest Time is a bold, daring podcast about parenthood in all of its forms. But you don’t need to be a parent to listen.”

Episode to Try: “Governor Mom”

 

Stuff Mom Never Told You

Main Topic: Gender and Culture

Description: “Tune in to Stuff Mom Never Told You to hear co-hosts Emilie Aries and Bridget Todd keep it real with a research-driven rundown of the ever-evolving challenges facing women today and throughout history, paired with smart, strategic solutions to further women’s lives, careers, and activism.”

Episode to Try: “Pregnant in Prison”

 

Therapy for Black Girls

Main Topic: Mental Health

Description: “The Therapy for Black Girls Podcast is a weekly conversation with Dr. Joy Harden Bradford, a licensed Psychologist, about all things mental health, personal development, and all the small decisions we can make to become the best possible version of ourselves.”

Episode to Try: “Steadying Yourself for the Holidays”

 

Homebrewed Christianity

Main Topic: Theology and Philosophy

Description: “Since March 13, 2008, Homebrewed Christianity Podcast has been bringing you the best nerdy audiological ingredients so you can brew your own faith.  You will find conversations between friends, theologians, philosophers, and scholars of all stripes.”

Episode to Try: “Politics, Pussy Hats, and Patriarchy with Donna Bowman“

 

On Being

Main Topic: Questions of Faith

Description: “On Being is a Peabody Award-winning public radio conversation and podcast, a Webby Award-winning website and online exploration, a publisher and public event convener. On Being opens up the animating questions at the center of human life: What does it mean to be human, and how do we want to live?”

Episode to Try: “The Opposite of Good is Indifference”

 

Kindreds (featuring Faith in Women staff!)

Main Topic: Faith and Feminism

Description: “Kindreds is a podcast for soul sisters, hosted by Ashley Peterson and Katey Zeh. In each episode we take on all things faith, feminism, and friendship from our homes in the South.”

Episode to Try: “Being Feminist”

Still wanting more? Be sure to check out our post from back in April with more of our recommendations.

October Resource Review: Taking Action to End Domestic Violence

Posted on

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. We know that one in four women in the United States will suffer from some form of intimate-partner abuse during her lifetime. When we look at Mississippi, that number is much higher–40% or 2 in 5 Mississippi women have experienced sexual or domestic violence. Verbal abuse, physical abuse, reproductive coercion (i.e. sabotaging birth control methods), stalking, threatening, and financial abuse are all forms of domestic violence. Often perpetrators use multiple forms of abuse to control their partners.

As we reflect on how to respond to this endemic violence in our state and in all places, we must consider how we tend to the immediate needs of those who are suffering from abuse while we address the systems of oppression that have created and sustained this culture of violence that denies the sacred worth and dignity of so many.

The Mississippi Coalition Against Domestic Violence (mcadv.org) offers training and other forms of technical assistance to shelters, support to survivors, and education for the wider Mississippi community to create social change and end domestic violence in the state. Their website includes a listing of every shelter in the state and what counties each of them serves.

In addition to direct services, the coalition advocates for better laws and policies, including the passage of SB 2680 in March of this year which modified Mississippi’s code to include “spousal domestic abuse” as a grounds for divorce. If you’d like to get involved with the coalition’s  work, you can visit their “Get Involved” page.

For forty years the FaithTrust Institute (faithtrustinstitute.org) has been working to end domestic and sexual violence, particularly within faith communities. Their community-specific trainings focus on a range of issues at the intersections of religion and domestic violence, including teen relationships, child abuse, and healthy boundary setting for religious leaders.

FaithTrust offers a number of free webinar-based trainings for advocates and a quarterly interactive, online “Meaningful Voices Book Club” to discuss fiction and nonfiction books that explore faith, justice, and ending domestic violence. Their most recent book club featured a discussion of Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale. If you’d like to be notified of future webinars, sign up for their newsletter here.

How Faith in Women is Involved

In 2016, Faith in Women was invited to participate on the Domestic Violence Task Force convened by Bishop Swanson of the Mississippi United Methodist Conference. Together the Task Force developed a mission and covenant for United Methodist churches across the state to commit to preventing and addressing intimate partner violence in their congregations and laid the groundwork for future educational opportunities for faith leaders and communities. Working alongside the Mississippi Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the Conference held a series of training workshops throughout 2016 for clergy to better understand domestic violence and its complexities. Faith in Women is currently exploring a partnership with the Methodist Center for Ministry to develop further opportunities for faith leaders and congregations to learn and engage on this issue.

Faith in Women recognizes that addressing domestic violence in our faith spaces begins with creating a church culture that affirms the sacred worth of women and girls. From elevating women to positions of visible leadership, to teaching healthy relationships skills for young people within a comprehensive sex education program, there are many ways that churches can work to end domestic violence in their communities. Contact us for more information on how your church or faith community can get involved. Faith in Women has resources that can help you get started.

Faith in Women Presents

Posted on

An Evening with Dr. Willie Parker

 

Later this month Faith in Women will host Christian reproductive justice advocate Dr. Willie Parker for an evening conversation entitled “Called to Courage: Because of My Faith, Not in Spite of It” in Jackson, Mississippi.

Dr. Parker, an obstetrician/gynecologist who provides abortion care in some of the most underserved areas in the South including Mississippi, published his first book Life’s Work: A Moral Argument for Choice, part-autobiographical and part-theological, in which he carefully and thoughtfully weaves together his moral grounding as a medical provider and a Christian helping women in need of his care during their reproductive journeys. You can read an excerpt of his book here.

“I learned a black-and-white faith, but I am not a black-and-white person.” 
–Dr. Willie Parker, Life’s Work

 

Event Details

Our time with Dr. Parker will build on conversations that Faith in Women hosted over the summer during our first ever virtual book club in which faith leaders and people of faith across the state of Mississippi read Life’s Work together and explored their own moral questions related to reproductive justice in community with one another. One of the book club participants commented:

“It was really helpful to hear other people’s perspectives, especially since I am very new to learning about Christian perspectives in favor of reproductive health and abortion care. It’s such a controversial topic that I don’t always feel comfortable bringing it up with other Christians but knowing that this group consisted of people who opted in to reading and discussing the topic made it a safe place to voice questions.”

Interviewing Dr. Parker is Katey Zeh, a strategist, writer, and educator who works with nonprofits and faith communities on organizing for social change. She holds a Masters of Divinity from Yale University and is the author of the forthcoming book Women Rise Up, which will be published by the FAR Press in March of 2018. 

Zeh and Parker are friends and colleagues in their work on the board of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. Expect their conversation to be rooted in faith, justice, and a shared understanding of the sacred worth of women.

Registration Information

This event will be by invitation-only. If you would like to request admission, please contact a member of our staff.  Pre-registration is required for all attendees.

 

 

August Partner Highlight: Moore Community House

Posted on

Moore Community House

Our summer blog series features some of our partner organizations working in the reproductive health, rights, and justice movement. This month we highlight Moore Community House. 

Moore Community House, a mission agency of United Methodist Women, served as the first organizational “home” for Faith in Women back in early 2015. Read on to learn more about how Moore Community House is transforming our state through building stronger communities for women and their families. 

Mission

Moore Community House (MCH) strives for flourishing Mississippi communities through their work to create economic security for women by providing affordable child care and job training. 

Brief History and Programs

Since 1924 MCH has been working to better the lives of families living on Mississippi’s coast. Located in East Biloxi, the organization has its roots in serving the children who worked–or whose parents worked–in the seafood factories at a time when there were no labor laws to protect workers or to prevent child labor abuses.

Today MCH has two major programs:

Early Head Start allows low-income parents to return to work while their children receive high-quality early child education from infancy through preschool. Their program covers a wide-variety of services including nutrition, counseling, school readiness, and employment. Early Head Start also works with pregnant women to make sure they stay healthy throughout their pregnancy, birth, and delivery. 

Women in Construction (WinC) provides career training for women in trade skills that will help them earn living wages.  Since 2008 more than 400 women have completed the pre-apprenticeship program, and just recently MCH received a $3.5 million federal grant to expand this initiative significantly over the next four years!

Supporting Faith in Women

Faith in Women owes its start to Carol Burnett, Director of Moore Community House. Seeing a need for progressive women-centered advocacy within the Mississippi faith community, Carol developed the idea to build a grassroots network of faith leaders and people of faith working in support of Mississippi women and their reproductive health. The idea quickly took root under the leadership of Ashley Peterson, becoming the Faith in Women network that we know today and operating under its own 501(c)3. Carol now serves as our Board President, guiding the vision of Faith in Women alongside WinC Program Director Julie Kuklinski and WinC Instructor Simone Agee.

Opportunities to Connect

There are a number of ways you can get involved with the work of the Moore Community House. Visit their website to make a donation, read up on recent news, or follow them on Facebook. To learn more about the Women in Construction program, you can follow their blog.

July Partner Highlight: Women’s Foundation of Mississippi

Posted on

Women’s Foundation of Mississippi

Our summer blog series features some of our partner organizations working in the reproductive health, rights, and justice movement. This month we highlight the Women’s Foundation of Mississippi.

The Women’s Foundation of Mississippi has been a supporter of the work of Faith in Women since our earliest days. Here’s a little background on this organization and its powerful work!

Mission

The Women’s Foundation of Mississippi works to ensure that all women and girls in the state have economic stability, which is connected to their ability to make decisions around if and when to become pregnant. Both a grantmaking and advocacy organization, the foundation seeks to create social change that will allow Mississippi’s women and their families to live their lives with safety, health, and financial security because “when women thrive, Mississippi thrives.”

Brief History

Started in 1999 as a portfolio of the Community Foundation of Greater Jackson, the Women’s Foundation of Mississippi was officially launched in 2003 as the sole grantmaking entity focused on the well-being of Mississippi’s women and girls. In its first year the foundation gave $6,000 in grants, and by its fifth year it awarded $68,000.

By 2009 the Women’s Foundation had become its own separate entity. Shortly thereafter in 2011 the foundation committed to focusing on the need for proper sexuality education and teenage pregnancy prevention in the state.

Today the foundation awards more than $650,000 annually in grants to organizations across the state working to make Mississippi a better place for women and their families.

Supporting Faith in Women

Faith in Women has been a grantee of the Women’s Foundation since 2016. Funds from the foundation have allowed us to build our strengths in providing comprehensive sex education training and resources to faith communities around the state. Thanks to the Women’s Foundation, we have expanded our staff, built partnerships across Mississippi, and developed an inventory of curricula, trainings, and other sex ed resources to share with churches and faith communities.

Through 2018, we’ll be working to support churches and communities as they begin comprehensive sex ed programs for youth and parents. Contact us to get a sex ed program started in your church or town!

Opportunities to Connect

There are a number of ways you can support the work of the Women’s Foundation. Visit the “Get Involved” page on their website to make a donation, contact your legislators about key issues affecting women and girls, or sign up for email alerts. You can also follow the work of the foundation through their Facebook page and Twitter account.

June Partner Highlight: RCRC

Posted on

Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice

This summer we will be featuring a number of our partner organizations working in the reproductive health, rights, and justice movement. The first organization in our partnership series is the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC).

Brief History of RCRC

RCRC has its roots in the Clergy Consultation Service, which was a network of mostly Protestant ministers and Jewish rabbis that helped connect women with affordable, compassionate abortion services in the years prior to the Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade when the procedure was illegal. In 1973 members of these clergy networks formed a coalition, then called the Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights (RCAR), to ensure that access to abortion remained available to all women who needed it.

Mission

Today the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (renamed in 1994) is “a broad-based, national, interfaith movement that brings the moral force of religion to protect and advance reproductive health, choice, rights and justice through education, prophetic witness, pastoral presence and advocacy.” RCRC’s programmatic work includes engaging scholars in creating new theological frameworks, organizing and mobilizing in southern states, and training faith leaders to provide pastoral care to those struggling with complex reproductive decisions.

Connection with Faith in Women

In 2015, Faith in Women members participated in the RCRC’s Pastoral Care Training for Reproductive Decision-Making and Loss, a valuable opportunity for helping faith leaders and spiritual caregivers understand the complexities of reproduction and everything that encompasses. RCRC staff spent a full day with half a dozen Mississippi clergywomen and clergymen from small towns and larger cities across the state, on how to serve as a compassionate presence for the women and families in their communities as they discern their reproductive destinies and grieve reproductive losses of all kinds.

The experience was a rare safe space to explore difficult topics like infertility, stillbirth, unplanned or traumatic pregnancy, abortion, and adoption from a religious framework that offers compassion, love, and judgment-free support for women. By the end of the training, the pastors reported feeling stronger and more comfortable in their roles as caregivers for women making reproductive decisions. Faith in Women continues to be an ally of RCRC as we work together to increase the participation of people of faith in the movement for reproductive health, rights, and justice.

Photo Credit: Helen Parshall
Opportunities to Connect

Next month RCRC will be launching a web-based series called “Sacred Crossroads” hosted by Rev. Dr. Cari Jackson and Rev. Aaron Payson. These 30-minute videos will feature thoughtful and accessible conversations with clergy, practitioners, and scholars on a range of reproductive health, rights, and justice issues. The series will kick off with discussions around grief and reproductive loss. To be notified when the series launches, please follow RCRC on Facebook and Twitter (@rcrchoice). You can also sign up for their newsletter at rcrc.org.

May Resource Review: Books We’re Reading

Posted on

 

This month we are excited to pilot our first ever Faith in Women virtual book club! Some of our fantastic Mississippi-based faith leaders and activists are currently reading Life’s Work by Dr. Willie Parker. Together we’ll be engaging in some dynamic group discussions via video conference this week. To celebrate our latest endeavor, this month we’re highlighting five of our favorite faith + justice books for activists, clergy, and parents. (Don’t have time to pick one of these up? Not to worry! Check out our other posts on podcasts and documentaries we recommend.)

 

Sex + Faith: Talking with Your Child from Birth to Adolescence by Dr. Kate Ott

Does talking about sex with your children make you squeamish? It doesn’t have to! Written for parents and caregivers this book discusses how to talk about sexuality with kids at every stage of development. Readers will gain tools for incorporating faith values in their ongoing dialogue about sexuality in a way that is inclusive and supportive of sexual differences.

 

Reproductive Justice: An Introduction by Loretta J. Ross and Rickie Solinger

Have you heard the phrase “reproductive justice” but you’re not exactly sure what it means? This book serves as a primer for anyone wanting to gain a better understanding of the intersectional approach of reproductive justice. Written for scholars, activists, and everyone in between, Reproductive Justice covers the history of the term,  examples from the field, and strategies for taking action today.

 

Good Christian Sex by Bromleigh McCleneghan

If you’re looking for an exploration of sexuality from a Christian perspective that doesn’t hinge on extremes, consider picking up a copy of McCleneghan’s Good Christian Sex: Why Chastity Isn’t the Only Option–And Other Things the Bible Says About Sex. Pulling from the insight of theologians and practitioners, this book is a refreshing change of pace from other takes on the bible and sex. Her nuanced, thoughtful perspective will engage both your head and your heart.

 

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

The United States currently incarcerates over 2 million of our citizens in public and private prisons. Why do we imprison so many people–and why are so many of those incarcerated people of color? Alexander traces the legacy of segregation laws that shapes today’s legislation and feeds into our system of mass incarceration. Both a much-needed history lesson and a call for justice, this book dispels the cultural myth of “colorblindness” once and for all. 

 

Life’s Work: A Moral Argument for Choice by Willie Parker [Faith in Women Book Club Pick!]
When Dr. Willie Parker trained as an obstetrician and gynecologist, he never intended to become an abortion provider, but over time he realized that his Christian faith called him to help women in need of this particular form of medical care. Part memoir and part theological reflection,  Parker weaves together his faith, study of scripture, scientific training, and experience as an African American living in the South to make a moral argument for supporting women’s access to abortion.

Is there a book you’d like for us to feature in a future Faith in Women book club discussion? Would you like our help in starting a book club of your own featuring one of these books? Please send us an email. We’d love to hear from you!  

April Resource Review: Podcasts We Love

Posted on

One of our favorite ways to stay current on issues affecting women’s health and rights is by subscribing and listening to podcasts.

What exactly is a podcast? A podcast is a form of audio or video media that can be downloaded and listened to on-demand at your own time and pace. The best part about podcasts is that nearly all of them are completely free, and you can watch or listen to them on your phone, tablet, or computer.

Are you new to podcasts and not sure how to get started? If you’re using an iOS device, we recommend this guide from LifeWire. For Android users, check out Stitcher. You can also stream podcasts directly from your computer using iTunes, which is available for download on both Mac and PC users.  

We’ll start by sharing a few of our favorite podcasts that we recommend subscribing to for their regular content. Then we’ll share a few specific episodes of podcasts that pertain directly to issues affecting women and their families.  

Recommended Podcast Subscriptions

Codeswitch

Main Topic: Race in the United States

Description: “Ever find yourself in a conversation about race and identity where you just get…stuck? Code Switch can help. We’re all journalists of color, and this isn’t just the work we do. It’s the lives we lead. Sometimes, we’ll make you laugh. Other times, you’ll get uncomfortable. But we’ll always be unflinchingly honest and empathetic. Come mix it up with us.”

Episode to Try: “Safety-Pin Solidarity: With Allies, Who Benefits?”

 

CHOICE/LESS

Main Topic: Reproductive Justice

Description: Produced by Rewire this podcast “delivers powerful, personal stories of reproductive injustice and the laws, politics and people beyond the headlines.”

Episode to Try: “When Is it Ok?”

 

The Longest Shortest Time

Main Topic: Parenting

Description: “The Longest Shortest Time is a parenting show for everyone, hosted by This American Life contributor and author Hillary Frank. From sex after parenthood, to biracial kids schooling their parents on skin color, to deciding whether or not to even have kids, Frank dares to tackle the topic of family in all of its deep complexity.”

Episodes to Try: “Babymaking While Queer” and “The Scarlet A”

 

Stuff Mom Never Told You

Main Topic: Gender and Culture

Description: “Hosted by Cristen Conger and Caroline Ervin, Stuff Mom Never Told You is the audio podcast from HowStuffWorks that gets down to the business of being women from every imaginable angle. Fueled by boundless curiosity and rigorous research, Cristen and Caroline are girls-next-door gender experts who skillfully decode the biology, psychology and sociology of ladies and gents, from their evolutionary past to millennial present, to better understand all the Stuff Mom Never Told You.”

Episode to Try: “Transgender 101” and “Why America Hates Maternity Leave”

 

How to Be a Girl

Main Topics: Parenting, Transgender Issues

Description: Pseudonymous Marlo Mack is a mother raising a young transgender daughter in Seattle. Produced in partnership with KUOW public radio, “it stars the two of them — a single mom and an eight-year-old “girl with a penis” — as they attempt together to sort out just what it means to be a girl.”  

Episodes to Try: “Mama, I’m a Girl” and “Red State Mama”

 

Recommended Podcast Episodes

“Being Single,” Holy Holy Podcast, June 1, 2016

Main Topics: Dating, Singlehood

Summary: “This conversation on being a single adult in America features Peg Birk, University of Chicago sociologist Linda Waite,  Rabbi Andrea London, Emmy award winner Rev. Julian DeShazier, and Imam Malik Mujahid.”

 

“We’re Not Going to Have Karl Again,” Death, Sex, and Money, July 13, 2016

Main Topics: Infant Loss, Paid Family Leave

Summary: “Karl Ives Scorah Towndrow was born last spring to parents Amber Scorah and Lee Towndrow. Neither of them were prepared for how deeply they would fall in love with their first child. Amber and Lee’s time with Karl was intense, but brief. Karl died when he was almost four months old, while he was at his first day of daycare. He stopped breathing after being put down for a nap.”

“Inside Planned Parenthood,” Death, Sex, and Money, July 22, 2016

Main Topic: Women’s Health Clinics

Summary: “Many Planned Parenthood clinics across the country rely on security measures like these. The services provided by these clinics—specifically, abortions—have long been at the center of a raging political debate in the U.S. But it’s not very often that we hear from the people who rely on these clinics for health care.”

 

“Listening Beyond Life and Choice,” On Being, August 11, 2011

Main Topics: Abortion, Politics, Bridging Across Difference

Summary: “Frances Kissling is known for her longtime activism on the abortion issue but has devoted her energy more in recent years to real relationship and new conversations across that bitter divide. She’s learned, she’s written, about the courage to be vulnerable in front of those with whom we passionately disagree.”

 

March Resource Review: Documentaries You Can Watch Right Now

Posted on

 

 

Documentaries are a great way to learn more about an issue you care about and start conversations with your family and friends. With online streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, watching these films at home is easier than ever. Here are some of our favorites. As many of these films deal with sensitive and serious subjects, we recommend watching them before sharing with youth or with a church or community group. We’ve included both those available through streaming subscriptions as well as others available for DVD purchase or online rental.

Available for Streaming*

Miss Representation (2011) 

This film explores the correlation between the media’s negative portrayal of women and their bodies with today’s underrepresentation of women in positions of leadership and power. It includes thought-provoking interviews with teenage girls as well as conversations with public figures like Katie Couric, Rachel Maddow, and Margaret Cho. Educational version and K-12th grade curriculum toolkit also available; contact us for more details.

Where to watch: Netflix  

The Mask You Live in (2015)

Produced by Jennifer Siebel Newsom (Miss Representation) this documentary explores the American view of masculinity, specifically how we define success, and how this narrow understanding harms boys and men. The Mask You Live In offers another way forward by allowing boys and men to take off their “masks” and stop having to prove their masculinity. Educational version and K-12th grade curriculum toolkit also available; contact us for more details.

Where to watch: Netflix

Trapped (2016)

Trapped examines the surge of more than 250 laws passed by state legislatures since 2010 that regulate reproductive health clinics and the medical professionals that staff them. The film also follows the activists, clinic workers, and lawyers who worked together to argue their case (Whole Women’s Health vs. Hellerstedt) before the Supreme Court. The reproductive rights struggle in Mississippi is also featured in this film, and Faith in Women helped to host multiple screenings of Trapped around the state in 2016.

Where to watch: Netflix

13th (2016)

The United States imprisons its citizens at a higher rate than any other nation. 13th looks at the rise of mass incarceration since 1970 during which the prison population has grown from around 200,000 to more than 2 million. The film traces the racist roots of today’s modern prison industrial complex back to the times of slavery and through the eras of civil rights and the war on drugs.

Where to watch: Netflix

BONUS–13th: A Conversation with Oprah Winfrey and Ava DuVernay (2017)

Watch this Netflix special with Oprah and 13th filmmaker Ava DuVernay as they discuss the documentary and the issues surrounding racism and mass incarceration.

Where to watch: Netflix

Available on DVD/Online Rental

Unnatural Causes (2008)

This mini-series explores how the intersections of race and economic inequality impact health disparities in the United States. The second episode “When the Bough Breaks” looks specifically at how racism affects infant mortality among women of color.

Where to buy: Available on unnauturalcauses.org (DVD and streaming)

After Tiller  (2013)

Dr. George Tiller, an abortion provider who performed third trimester procedures, was murdered in his church in 2009. This documentary follows the four remaining physicians who openly provide this service and those who staunchly oppose them.

Where to buy: Available on Amazon (DVD and streaming)

No Woman, No Cry (2010)

This documentary examines the reality of preventable maternal deaths around the globe by following the stories of pregnant women as they seek medical care in four different countries.

Where to buy: Available on Amazon (DVD and streaming)

 

How Faith in Women can help

Is there a film or documentary that you’d like to show to your community group or church? Faith in Women can help arrange a screening event in your area. Please contact us and we will be in touch about scheduling. We look forward to hearing from you!

*Requires streaming subscriptions. Films are also available for digital purchase or rental.