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Friday Blog Roundup

I am so excited that the letters have begun to trickle in for the Letter to My Body campaign. I’m obviously a part of the larger umbrella category that is woman, but one of my subsets is infertile, and frankly, I want us to have the loudest voice at this virtual conference. Imagine a room filled with cheering avatars. In one corner you have the politically-minded and in another you have body acceptance and in another you have business-savvy. And in the center of the room, rallying the group, making them truly look long and hard at their body with their passionate letters about how infertility has affected their feelings about their body are the stirrup queens. Twelve and a half making their voices heard.

Because it’s not just about how we look at our bodies. Our letters are also about making other women consider their own bodies in a different light.

If you’ve already written one and posted it, thank you. If you need any help with the technical aspect of contributing, let me know. If you’re looking for something to do this weekend, may I suggest thinking about your body? If you feel like posting but have nothing to write about, may I suggest composing a letter to yourself? And if you’re really empowered after writing this note, rally the troops and encourage other infertile women to have their voice heard. Post about it on your blog, post about it on bulletin boards, encourage others in your Resolve chapter to write their own post. The best part–you can participate even if you don’t have a blog. BlogHer will host posts from any woman. All you need to do is go through the free sign-up and they will let you create content on their site. So you can write this one post and then go back to non-blogging. Or maybe this is the push you needed to start your own blog.

This project is on-going and it’s not your only chance to have your voice heard, but it is your chance to have your letter included in this critical mass of infertility-themed notes. And I would like to make our response to this project as diverse as our community itself. I want every path out of infertility represented–good old-fashioned shagging, treatments, donor gametes, adoption, and living child-free. I want every age represented, every sexuality represented, every diagnosis represented. I want people to read our response and say, “shit. I never knew there were so many facets of infertility. 3000 women came out to write something? Mel only has about 1200 on her blogroll. Where did all of these women come from?”

Twelve and a half of the population. You have to assume at least half of that number are women. We’re talking in the millions. We can certainly pull together more than the 89 entries compiled by feminism and gender.

I have things to say about my body
Yes I do
I have things to say about my body
How about you?

Cheer over.

*******

No questions this week, but I did want to do Malky’s meme because it looked like a lot of fun. And because I was tagged. And because Malky rocks.

So Ten Things You’ll Never Hear Me Say:

  1. This chicken is delicious!
  2. I would love to hold your pet cricket.
  3. Honey, let’s move somewhere else.
  4. Needles? Love them!
  5. I was thinking about taking up sky diving.
  6. Feh…I don’t really like coffee.
  7. I am so relaxed.
  8. I love pastel colours.
  9. Chocolate makes me vomit.
  10. You know what this house needs? Fewer books.
*******

Just a few cool things I read this week…

All Grown Up
had a post called “The Adoption Option” in which she spoke about her personal realization that it was never about the baby, it was about the child. Before she started trying to conceive, when she said she wasn’t ready to be pregnant, what she always meant was that she wasn’t ready to be responsible for a child. Therefore, the thought continued now in the midst of infertility to be this long-range focus on the formation of family–however that family comes about. It is largely about fate or where life takes you. But it was an interesting thought.

Brooklyn Girl had a post called “Advanced Parenting” that cracked me up. I liked it so much that I am considering having “Where’s Your Penis” bedazzled on t-shirts out of rhinestones.

Switching gears, DI Mom had a post about struggling that touched me immensely. I think we sometimes hold ourselves to standards beyond human capabilities and that can create a domino effect to other feelings. I thought what she wrote was raw and beautiful and honest, especially this thought: “Maybe I should make a little cross stitch sampler to remind me that I am allowed to be frustrated sometimes and it’s even okay to close the door.”

Lastly, not an IF-blogger, but certainly a post that speaks enormously to the two-week-wait, The Campaign of Unshaved Snatch had a post about silent bad news. No news is not always good news; sometimes it’s best to just get the information and move on rather than languish in the anticipation of the knowledge coming. Suzanne wrote: “Silent bad news is worse than bad news because at least there’s certainty with bad news. Silent bad news leaves doubts – and worse, hope – until you finally get bad news.”

That’s it for the roundup. Now go write your post about your body. Oh, and if you have time, do Malky’s meme too.

0 comments

1 In Due Time { 03.01.08 at 9:57 pm }

I wrote a letter! 🙂

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