Consciousness Raising

On February 26, I had three ladies over for what I had called "a good old fashioned consciousness raising potluck". I had invited about 10 other people, but because of the extremely short notice the group remained small. Not to worry, a larger group plans to meet in a couple of weeks. We had planned to view Debra Baker's documentary, "Broken Ties", the story of her unexpected pregnancy and subsequent relinquishment during the 1960s. Then we were going to process the video for awhile and talk about adoption as a feminist issue as well as HB770/SB634. What happened instead was completely unexpected. We all opened up about a variety of topics and had rich discussion. It seemed to me that once one traditionally 'taboo' topic was made safe, so many other topics were up for discussion, all of which were tied in some way (directly or indirectly) to adoption. "This doesn't leave this room" became a frequently heard phrase. One woman pointed out that if a politician remained concerned about privacy of birthparents, we should perhaps bring up the Patriot Act to counter. I wondered, why did women ever stop having CR events? There are so many other topics to discuss. Men were invited, but I wondered if the all-female environment was more conducive to self-disclosure. There really are certain things that we felt safer discussing only in front of "our own kind". Pregnancy, childbirth, relinquishment, and surrounding issues are (or can be) so emotionally charged, and sexually infused, that it can be necessary to create a sacred space of sorts; a safe place where women can be free to speak their minds. We will continue to have these potlucks into the semester, and hopefully the year.
Katy Perkins