RE: [ozmidwifery] FYI news article

[Kelly @ BellyBelly]

Believe what you want Felicity and nice that you are defending your friend, but the fact is for the last week, I have had nothing but emails of support and encouragement in private (they think the conference is a brilliant idea) and this is the first negative response I have had. I must admit I expected more because people hate change generally and hate their thoughts and beliefs being challenged. So many have told me that I have said exactly what they have wanted to for such a very long time, but have been afraid to. So my thoughts aren’t at all alone in company – I just wish they would speak up but obviously there is fear there for some reason or the other. Do you have any better ideas that you honestly think will work to change things? Joyous Birth is not for everyone, I know several amongst us who left as they felt attacked and intimidated as they didn’t fit the JB ‘mould’ (is that a good way to change and help?) and of course nor is my own site for everyone either – people will be attracted to different things, I choose to try and help change people’s beliefs and not spend all my time in a forum of like-minded people – this means going outside your comfort zone. As Henci Goer so bluntly opened with at the last homebirth conference, ‘…We’re losing.’ I’m not saying to market the whole thing to look ‘cheap’ but to make it more appealing. I mean for goodness sakes, you have Obs hiring midwives to do their ante-natal appointments now – how much worse does it have to get? Otherwise, carry on… and those who do want to do things differently in an attempt to try something which might possibly work, will. (I’ve removed my signature especially for you Felicity to prove to you that I am not in it for the “advertising”). From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Stephen & Felicity Sent: Friday, 22 September 2006 1:39 PM To: ozmidwifery@acegraphics.com.au Subject: Re: [ozmidwifery] FYI news article   I'm glad you're having such an awakening and feeling so motivated, Kelly; it's something many of us felt and began to act on a long time ago - welcome to the club, it's populated by many decades of women who continue to work hard to heal birth in our culture - which is a long, slow battle.  We're all pretty aware of the situation and we're all working to the best of our own capacitys to improve it (some of us at no profit, by finance or publicity or otherwise, to ourselves).  Some of your suggestions have been really worthwhile and quite exciting, but I have to admit that I'm losing my enthusiasm for them amid the sea of self promotional rhetoric that accompanies them - OzMid is not a promotional tool for BellyBelly and some posts on this list related to it have felt like advertising Spam in my InBox.  I have to say I find your assumptions about Janet Fraser in particular to be offensive.  Do you actually know the totality of what Janet does in her professional and personal capacity, or the widespread and rapidly growing effect Joyous Birth is having Australia wide, both in the mainstream and otherwise? It's nothing like one woman espousing her own views to the converted, and how utterly rude to dismiss the lifework of one of your sisters as being such.  Every contribution counts and whilst I think I understand the point you're trying to make about reaching the mainstream, it's dangerous to begin tempering our message to better enable us to begin "marketing" it to the majority gratuitously - women and babies are not a market and our integrity is not for sale.  I fear the overstepping of that invisible line that would transform us into nothing too different from the Obs and Hospys - big business, marketed to the masses (for instance, in my personal experience, your forum/site needs to compromise a lot in order to appeal to the larger membership you enjoy; this results in some less than optimal advertising and advice, and the sad loss of some wonderful contributions and items.  Do the ends justify the means? That's a decision we each need to make, and your contribution is still significant, though not necessarily in the form I would personally choose for myself).  What is the point of a message reaching more people if the message has had to be diluted and perhaps changed in order to get there?  Nothing is simple and these aspects need to be considered.  It is the various voices of all of us that shed light on darker areas of the topic; some more straightforward and uncompromising contributions may seem difficult to hear but they're usually the most valuable and evidence-based in my experience, and I enjoy them thoroughly.   ----- Original Message -----     I don’t think this got through last night… Best Regards, Kelly Zantey Creator, BellyBelly.com.au Gentle Solutions From Conception to Parenthood BellyBelly Birth Support - http://www.bellybelly.com.au/birth-support