You are so talented and wise. Your work is really meaningful and appreciated! I need to find the source but I read somewhere that in fmri studies, the part of the infants brain which lights up when their mom responds to their cry is the same as nuns when they pray. As far as i’m concerned mother (and earth) are the closest things to god. In them we can connect most closely to life itself
Wow, thank you so much for that kindness, and for spending time with my words. I am so, so grateful you find connection to them. Wow! I would love to read that if you ever stumble back onto it!! As a spiritual person, I very much see our Mother Earth as my deity. She provides, protects, uplifts, nourishes, teaches -- to me, that is religion. ❤️
I can’t seem to find it but what I did find in my notes were some shared brain regions between the two. Notably, the the right medial orbitofrontal cortex, right middle temporal cortex, right inferior and superior parietal lobules, right caudate, left medial prefrontal cortex, left anterior cingulate cortex, left inferior parietal lobule, left insula, left caudate, and left brainstem. Basically the synchronization of brain regions between the spiritual experience and the experience of unconditional love are largely shared
I would love to read that study as well, it's fascinating to think of the ways that our bodies respond, are in connection with the world and with others in ways we are taught we can't recognize and thus are not real. Oof.
💯 the whole natural philosophy shaped by white men from the Greeks onwards ignores the fluid nature of reality and instead favors only that which is measurable. I think it became necessary to dissociate from primal instinct in order to maintain an otherwise imbalanced society. In doing so, we’ve desensitized ourselves from so much which is meaningful and important.
I always hesitate to call upon studies (even though I am a scientist) cause I dont want to contribute to the idea that measurable is greater than experiential.
Anyway, I did find the links for the study I couldn’t find. Shared a bit in the comment above 🤗
"I don't want to contribute to the idea that measurable is greater than experiential." I mean, we have an entire body of faith (Christianity) dedicated to the experiences of men (David, Job, Daniel, Paul) which ignores and demonizes those of women such as Mary Magdalene, Joan of Arc. Interesting!
I love, love, love that you’ve put this paradigm back in front of me. Amy’s comment has stuck with me since she left it and has impacted my responses to things so very much. That reminder to believe someone’s lived experience is so very important and has come up often since Amy gently reminded us to do so bere.
And yes! The power of the single story is so strong and so pro-patriarchy, I actually talk about that in a more recent piece. The history that has been taught to us is the history patriarchy wanted us to learn.
I’m thrilled that it stuck with you. Makes me feel useful! Yes, the more we can see reality for what it is (complex) the better. Then we can begin to see how deep and varying existence is and that our varied experiences allow for so much learning
Good point! I think both experience and empiricism are used to tell stories and when either aim to be the only way or the only truth, it’s a problem. From the aspect of controlling humanity and also because it is false and our mental model suffers. Existence is complex and relational. For example, a higher serotonin brain environment can produce prosocial or antisocial behavior depending on the environment. If someone were to take an SSRI and say “this made me so happy, serotonin is the happy hormone” and someone else said the opposite but a study found the first to be true. The second person’s experience is invalidated or their divergence is blamed on genetics. It’s a better approach to understand how serotonin conditions brain activity and the experience can then say something about the environment. Random example, lol. Hope that made sense 🙃
I so appreciate that you said you didn't want to contribute to the idea that measurable is greater than experiential--I've been starting to draft something related to that and how much a very specific, white patriarchal construct that is. Thanks so much for sharing, look forward to reading more.
I look forward to reading your essay too! I’ll probably spend my whole life learning and concept modeling around this. It’s largely what got me into relational biology and complexity science. It plays a role into most of the world’s problems from interpersonal conflict to resource “management”. I do think empiricism is extremely important but as a tool, not a god.
Hopefully i’ll get an essay out one of these days. With a baby in the house, my brain can only manage personal writing at the moment. But i am hoping to get a piece out on the Autonomic Nervous System and Vagus nerves (right and left) next month which will get to this in a sideways manner
This is such a fantastic read, the threads of history woven through that you tie together. I want to post it to everywhere I possibly can--I just want to rage and celebrate at the same time these women who have been erased from our histories.
And with regard to living near fighter jets as you have experienced--I too live near an airforce base in Anchorage, and at first I found it annoying. Years later that shifted into finding it so chilling. I can't hear it, like you without thinking of what those sounds mean, have meant, in so many times and countries of the last hundred years. I am so grateful to find such fierce kin in your writing. YES. ❤️🔥
This means so very much coming from you - THANK YOU! I am so grateful for you, your support, and all you've taught me. 'Chilling' is such a good word to describe it. It's hard to disconnect from the utter horror those sounds bring others.
I, too, live near a Naval Air Station, and experience the same horrifying visions of what the roar represents. I wrote a poem about it, which perhaps I will find and post on my substack, though that feels scarily vulnerable.
I've been looking forward to this post since you mentioned it was coming. I am so impressed by your scholarship. You gather so much information and then connect it so adroitly to the modern world. When I gave birth to my kids, we used midwives in a hospital setting. We had to fight to get our insurance carrier to cover the service despite the fact that midwives like ours (credentialed, in practice with MDs, and with hospital privileges) have dramatically better results with childbirth than MDs alone. Fewer complications, fewer emergency procedures, better outcomes for mothers and babies. The research is all there and yet midwives are still seen as fringe and risky. The medicalization of birth is at the root of so much of what is wrong with childbirth. Bottom line, pregnancy is not an illness and birth is not a procedure. Women like Trota have always understood that. Given the kind of work you produce I know you must have a huge reading list, but if you haven't read "A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812" you might add it to your list. It's a great primary source. And the way the horrific treatment of enslaved women is echoed today in our abysmal maternal and fetal outcomes for women of color is shattering. There are certain injustices that just sit like rocks in my stomach. That is one of the heaviest for me. Again, we need more midwives. Thanks as always for your scholarship. It is always eye-opening and such a gift. Oh, and thanks for the shout-out! 💕
Thank you for saying that and seeing the effort, I am so grateful for you and your support! I am so sorry you had to go through all of that while also focusing on growing a whole other human, that is a lot. Midwives are so undervalued, but you said it perfectly when you said "The medicalization of birth is at the root of so much of what is wrong with childbirth. Bottom line, pregnancy is not an illness and birth is not a procedure." Too right you are. I have not read that, but I am always grateful to receive impactful recommendations. Thank you!!!!
This is an astonishing piece, impeccably researched. I was pulled in from the very beginning and couldn't stop reading until the end. I'm ashamed of how little of these specifics I knew going into this. Thank you for teaching me.
Noha, no need to feel ashamed for not knowing--almost no one knows, that is obviously the point of the system of silencing, and it works very well! Thank goodness for scholars like 15th C Feminist rooting out this history and sharing it with us.
Right! And that they loom over what would have been his stomping grounds means so much. They didn’t get to take up space when they deserved to, but I’m glad they are taking that space now.
I’m ashamed to know of the evils of Sims, but not of the wonders of Trota, Anarcha, Lucy, and Betsy. Thank you so much for this. I’ve learned so much. A necessary read.
Thank you so much for spending time with my words and uplifting Trota, Anarcha, Lucy, and Betsy's names and legacies! I am so, so grateful!! Michelle Browder's breathtakingly beautiful statues dwarfing Sims' feels exactly like what should happen within the historical annals-- their names uplifted, and his eclipsed. Thank you again for uplifting this piece. Sending love and positive energy your way! ❤️
Such an astute and insightful piece of scholarship! You write beautifully and make such important points. (Part of me wanted so badly to pursue medieval culture as an academic, this piece just thrilled me!) Thank you for this work, and for all the work you are doing to unearth and bring light to so much that pushes out our so-long constrained boundaries of cultural understanding. It is such important work! (And even as we write today, the patriarchal powers are trying to bury it.)
So much more I could say, but I’ll stop here, and just thank you. I will help spread your word as far and wide as I can.
Wow! Thank you, thank you, thank you! This was so wonderful to read, thank you for saying all of that. Oh my gosh - I LOVED focusing on the medieval in school. I was fortunate enough to learn under one of the leading Plague Literature researchers and she instilled in me a deep love for the women of world's past, and I feel so grateful for that. How lucky are we for teachers that LOVE to learn and teach?! Thank you for spending time with my words, for uplifting their names, and for taking a moment to add joy into my day. I am so grateful. Sending love!
Thank you for writing this very well researched essay. I appreciate how you skillfully connected the perspectives of people in the past with current practices in the modern day. The examples that you listed perfectly illustrate how historical events impact how our society is organized today.
Yvonne, thank you for saying this! I really appreciate you spending time with my words and these incredible, impactful women. Recently finished Abolition. Feminism. Now by Dr Angela Davis and others, and one quote has stuck with me: “present realities are historically made.”
Wow!! What an intelligently written piece! I found myself nodding in agreement, intrigued with new knowledge, and also going “ew” in response to a few of the patriarchal sins discussed.
Wow right back at you, this comment touched my heart! Thank you for taking the time to share that with me, and for your kind words. I am so grateful for the time you spent here with my words and these incomparable women!
This was one of those pieces that as I was writing it, I realized how much I personally needed it. I was so angry writing it, for the erasure, for the harm, but also so grateful for the opportunity to know these women, even in this small way, to witness them. Truly the both/and writing process on this one. Thank you again for spending your precious time witnessing these women. ❤️
This is simply amazing. I've been trying to write about the so-called abortion debate, to illustrate my sense that it's no debate at all but a skirmish contrived to re-ignite the war against women by demonizing and criminalizing our bodies. Your post has given me historic context and I'm just awed by the specifics. I'm also sadly more aware of the way women of color have been treated since childbirth was subsumed by a patriarchal (profit-making) medical industry. Now, I more completely understand the term "medical industrial complex." As used on women, the practices are forms of warfare on women.
Thank you so very much for saying that, for spending time with my words and these women. I hold this particular piece so dear to my heart and I feel honored to share it. I can not wait to see where you go from here and the story you write in regards to women’s right to autonomy!!
I really appreciate you recognizing where you’ve grown your own understanding, your own paradigm. We learn from empathetically listening to each other and those that came before us and I’m so grateful you did so here in this space. Thank you. May we all continue learning, listening, and growing together! 💕💜
Hi! As a still forming writer and feminist I enjoyed this piece so much as well as your other works! I struggle with placing my feminism within context of my want to be a mother thinking It’s binary and can only be one or the other. So to read this and see how others have made a home in the middle and because of that we have had such amazing leaders, discoveries, is truly inspirational. And thank you also for the further links and readings at the end it’s helped formulate where I wanted to go with my reading and understanding!
Thank you for saying all of this, I really appreciate you sow sing time with my words and these incredible women! Angela Davis is probably my favorite person to read in regards to the false binaries, which are always so important to inspect yet so hard to see sometimes.
You are so talented and wise. Your work is really meaningful and appreciated! I need to find the source but I read somewhere that in fmri studies, the part of the infants brain which lights up when their mom responds to their cry is the same as nuns when they pray. As far as i’m concerned mother (and earth) are the closest things to god. In them we can connect most closely to life itself
Wow, thank you so much for that kindness, and for spending time with my words. I am so, so grateful you find connection to them. Wow! I would love to read that if you ever stumble back onto it!! As a spiritual person, I very much see our Mother Earth as my deity. She provides, protects, uplifts, nourishes, teaches -- to me, that is religion. ❤️
I can’t seem to find it but what I did find in my notes were some shared brain regions between the two. Notably, the the right medial orbitofrontal cortex, right middle temporal cortex, right inferior and superior parietal lobules, right caudate, left medial prefrontal cortex, left anterior cingulate cortex, left inferior parietal lobule, left insula, left caudate, and left brainstem. Basically the synchronization of brain regions between the spiritual experience and the experience of unconditional love are largely shared
I would love to read that study as well, it's fascinating to think of the ways that our bodies respond, are in connection with the world and with others in ways we are taught we can't recognize and thus are not real. Oof.
💯 the whole natural philosophy shaped by white men from the Greeks onwards ignores the fluid nature of reality and instead favors only that which is measurable. I think it became necessary to dissociate from primal instinct in order to maintain an otherwise imbalanced society. In doing so, we’ve desensitized ourselves from so much which is meaningful and important.
I always hesitate to call upon studies (even though I am a scientist) cause I dont want to contribute to the idea that measurable is greater than experiential.
Anyway, I did find the links for the study I couldn’t find. Shared a bit in the comment above 🤗
"I don't want to contribute to the idea that measurable is greater than experiential." I mean, we have an entire body of faith (Christianity) dedicated to the experiences of men (David, Job, Daniel, Paul) which ignores and demonizes those of women such as Mary Magdalene, Joan of Arc. Interesting!
I love, love, love that you’ve put this paradigm back in front of me. Amy’s comment has stuck with me since she left it and has impacted my responses to things so very much. That reminder to believe someone’s lived experience is so very important and has come up often since Amy gently reminded us to do so bere.
And yes! The power of the single story is so strong and so pro-patriarchy, I actually talk about that in a more recent piece. The history that has been taught to us is the history patriarchy wanted us to learn.
I’m thrilled that it stuck with you. Makes me feel useful! Yes, the more we can see reality for what it is (complex) the better. Then we can begin to see how deep and varying existence is and that our varied experiences allow for so much learning
Good point! I think both experience and empiricism are used to tell stories and when either aim to be the only way or the only truth, it’s a problem. From the aspect of controlling humanity and also because it is false and our mental model suffers. Existence is complex and relational. For example, a higher serotonin brain environment can produce prosocial or antisocial behavior depending on the environment. If someone were to take an SSRI and say “this made me so happy, serotonin is the happy hormone” and someone else said the opposite but a study found the first to be true. The second person’s experience is invalidated or their divergence is blamed on genetics. It’s a better approach to understand how serotonin conditions brain activity and the experience can then say something about the environment. Random example, lol. Hope that made sense 🙃
I so appreciate that you said you didn't want to contribute to the idea that measurable is greater than experiential--I've been starting to draft something related to that and how much a very specific, white patriarchal construct that is. Thanks so much for sharing, look forward to reading more.
I look forward to reading your essay too! I’ll probably spend my whole life learning and concept modeling around this. It’s largely what got me into relational biology and complexity science. It plays a role into most of the world’s problems from interpersonal conflict to resource “management”. I do think empiricism is extremely important but as a tool, not a god.
Hopefully i’ll get an essay out one of these days. With a baby in the house, my brain can only manage personal writing at the moment. But i am hoping to get a piece out on the Autonomic Nervous System and Vagus nerves (right and left) next month which will get to this in a sideways manner
This is such a fantastic read, the threads of history woven through that you tie together. I want to post it to everywhere I possibly can--I just want to rage and celebrate at the same time these women who have been erased from our histories.
And with regard to living near fighter jets as you have experienced--I too live near an airforce base in Anchorage, and at first I found it annoying. Years later that shifted into finding it so chilling. I can't hear it, like you without thinking of what those sounds mean, have meant, in so many times and countries of the last hundred years. I am so grateful to find such fierce kin in your writing. YES. ❤️🔥
This means so very much coming from you - THANK YOU! I am so grateful for you, your support, and all you've taught me. 'Chilling' is such a good word to describe it. It's hard to disconnect from the utter horror those sounds bring others.
I, too, live near a Naval Air Station, and experience the same horrifying visions of what the roar represents. I wrote a poem about it, which perhaps I will find and post on my substack, though that feels scarily vulnerable.
I’d love to read it. 💜
Hi Freya, I posted that poem: https://whispersandshouts.substack.com/p/the-sound-of-freedom?utm_source=activity_item (thanks for the nudge. <3)
Thank you! Then certainly I will post it. 😊
I've been looking forward to this post since you mentioned it was coming. I am so impressed by your scholarship. You gather so much information and then connect it so adroitly to the modern world. When I gave birth to my kids, we used midwives in a hospital setting. We had to fight to get our insurance carrier to cover the service despite the fact that midwives like ours (credentialed, in practice with MDs, and with hospital privileges) have dramatically better results with childbirth than MDs alone. Fewer complications, fewer emergency procedures, better outcomes for mothers and babies. The research is all there and yet midwives are still seen as fringe and risky. The medicalization of birth is at the root of so much of what is wrong with childbirth. Bottom line, pregnancy is not an illness and birth is not a procedure. Women like Trota have always understood that. Given the kind of work you produce I know you must have a huge reading list, but if you haven't read "A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812" you might add it to your list. It's a great primary source. And the way the horrific treatment of enslaved women is echoed today in our abysmal maternal and fetal outcomes for women of color is shattering. There are certain injustices that just sit like rocks in my stomach. That is one of the heaviest for me. Again, we need more midwives. Thanks as always for your scholarship. It is always eye-opening and such a gift. Oh, and thanks for the shout-out! 💕
Thank you for saying that and seeing the effort, I am so grateful for you and your support! I am so sorry you had to go through all of that while also focusing on growing a whole other human, that is a lot. Midwives are so undervalued, but you said it perfectly when you said "The medicalization of birth is at the root of so much of what is wrong with childbirth. Bottom line, pregnancy is not an illness and birth is not a procedure." Too right you are. I have not read that, but I am always grateful to receive impactful recommendations. Thank you!!!!
"There are certain injustices that just sit like rocks in my stomach"--that is exactly, devastatingly how it feels.
This is an astonishing piece, impeccably researched. I was pulled in from the very beginning and couldn't stop reading until the end. I'm ashamed of how little of these specifics I knew going into this. Thank you for teaching me.
Thank you for saying all of this, thank you for sharing and uplifting Trota, Anarcha, Lucy, and Betsy's names -- they so deserve to be known! ❤️❤️
Noha, no need to feel ashamed for not knowing--almost no one knows, that is obviously the point of the system of silencing, and it works very well! Thank goodness for scholars like 15th C Feminist rooting out this history and sharing it with us.
Thank you Erika. I appreciate that.
Aristotle keeps popping up in my readings lately (and not in a good way)
That man said some shit.
Wow, I’m so glad to learn that the statue was replaced with such a beautiful alternative!
Right! And that they loom over what would have been his stomping grounds means so much. They didn’t get to take up space when they deserved to, but I’m glad they are taking that space now.
We talk a lot about doing the reading. This is that. Thank you for researching. Thank you for writing. I learned a bunch.
Wow, that means so very much. Thank you for saying that, Alex, and spending time with these incredible women!!
I’m ashamed to know of the evils of Sims, but not of the wonders of Trota, Anarcha, Lucy, and Betsy. Thank you so much for this. I’ve learned so much. A necessary read.
Thank you so much for spending time with my words and uplifting Trota, Anarcha, Lucy, and Betsy's names and legacies! I am so, so grateful!! Michelle Browder's breathtakingly beautiful statues dwarfing Sims' feels exactly like what should happen within the historical annals-- their names uplifted, and his eclipsed. Thank you again for uplifting this piece. Sending love and positive energy your way! ❤️
Such an astute and insightful piece of scholarship! You write beautifully and make such important points. (Part of me wanted so badly to pursue medieval culture as an academic, this piece just thrilled me!) Thank you for this work, and for all the work you are doing to unearth and bring light to so much that pushes out our so-long constrained boundaries of cultural understanding. It is such important work! (And even as we write today, the patriarchal powers are trying to bury it.)
So much more I could say, but I’ll stop here, and just thank you. I will help spread your word as far and wide as I can.
Wow! Thank you, thank you, thank you! This was so wonderful to read, thank you for saying all of that. Oh my gosh - I LOVED focusing on the medieval in school. I was fortunate enough to learn under one of the leading Plague Literature researchers and she instilled in me a deep love for the women of world's past, and I feel so grateful for that. How lucky are we for teachers that LOVE to learn and teach?! Thank you for spending time with my words, for uplifting their names, and for taking a moment to add joy into my day. I am so grateful. Sending love!
Thank you for sharing such important knowledge with us. This is great stuff: the MOTHERS of gynaecology - of course!
Thank you so much for this kindness, I am so grateful! Thank you for spending time with my words! They were all incredible women. 👏👏👏
Thank you for writing this very well researched essay. I appreciate how you skillfully connected the perspectives of people in the past with current practices in the modern day. The examples that you listed perfectly illustrate how historical events impact how our society is organized today.
Yvonne, thank you for saying this! I really appreciate you spending time with my words and these incredible, impactful women. Recently finished Abolition. Feminism. Now by Dr Angela Davis and others, and one quote has stuck with me: “present realities are historically made.”
Wow!! What an intelligently written piece! I found myself nodding in agreement, intrigued with new knowledge, and also going “ew” in response to a few of the patriarchal sins discussed.
Thank you for this! Your work is very necessary.
Wow right back at you, this comment touched my heart! Thank you for taking the time to share that with me, and for your kind words. I am so grateful for the time you spent here with my words and these incomparable women!
This was one of those pieces that as I was writing it, I realized how much I personally needed it. I was so angry writing it, for the erasure, for the harm, but also so grateful for the opportunity to know these women, even in this small way, to witness them. Truly the both/and writing process on this one. Thank you again for spending your precious time witnessing these women. ❤️
This is simply amazing. I've been trying to write about the so-called abortion debate, to illustrate my sense that it's no debate at all but a skirmish contrived to re-ignite the war against women by demonizing and criminalizing our bodies. Your post has given me historic context and I'm just awed by the specifics. I'm also sadly more aware of the way women of color have been treated since childbirth was subsumed by a patriarchal (profit-making) medical industry. Now, I more completely understand the term "medical industrial complex." As used on women, the practices are forms of warfare on women.
Thank you so very much for saying that, for spending time with my words and these women. I hold this particular piece so dear to my heart and I feel honored to share it. I can not wait to see where you go from here and the story you write in regards to women’s right to autonomy!!
I really appreciate you recognizing where you’ve grown your own understanding, your own paradigm. We learn from empathetically listening to each other and those that came before us and I’m so grateful you did so here in this space. Thank you. May we all continue learning, listening, and growing together! 💕💜
This is awesome. I’m so glad I found your page!
Wow! Thank you for taking the time to say this, it means so much and I am so grateful! Thanks for spending time with my words. 💜
Thank you for this well researched piece. There’s so much to learn and unlearn.
Thank YOU for uplifting their names and story! I am so grateful!
Hi! As a still forming writer and feminist I enjoyed this piece so much as well as your other works! I struggle with placing my feminism within context of my want to be a mother thinking It’s binary and can only be one or the other. So to read this and see how others have made a home in the middle and because of that we have had such amazing leaders, discoveries, is truly inspirational. And thank you also for the further links and readings at the end it’s helped formulate where I wanted to go with my reading and understanding!
Thank you for saying all of this, I really appreciate you sow sing time with my words and these incredible women! Angela Davis is probably my favorite person to read in regards to the false binaries, which are always so important to inspect yet so hard to see sometimes.