Sexual Abuse Triggers During Labour and Birth
I have started writing a book on creating a safe space for pregnant, labouring and birthing women who have been sexually abused. I don’t claim to be an expert on this very sensitive subject matter. Nor do I claim to have covered every aspect of it in this book. For a very comprehensive and thorough analysis on this subject matter please read When Survivors Give Birth: Understanding and Healing the Effects of Early Sexual Abuse in Childbearing Women by Penny Simkin and Phyllis Klaus. I am putting this book for numerous reasons. I am putting this book together because I live in a country where women are more likely to be raped than literate. A country where, according to the Medical Reasearch Council, one in three girls under the age of 18 has been sexually abused.The MRC’s study also states that by 2009, 40% of all victims who reported rape to the police were under 18 and 15% were under 12 years old.I am putting this book together because of my own personal experience. I am putting this book together because abuse is so prevalent in our birthing facilities. I am putting this book together because I see what a difference knowledge, skills and the correct language can make. I am putting this book together because of my mother. I am putting this book together for all the women out there who have, or will still some day, give birth. This book springs forth from a series of tutorials called Compassion tutorials started by midwife Robyn Sheldon. They are a series given to the 4th and 5th-year medical students at the University of Cape Town during their Obstetric and Gynaecology rotation. I teach these tutorials along with Robyn, Caitlyn Collins and Alexia van der Velde. We teach at Groote Schuur hospital, Mowbray Maternity hospital and New Somerset hospital. These tutorials were started to address the high incidents of abuse from caregivers towards women birthing in the labour wards. With the 4th years, we focus primarily on the concept of compassion in the context of the labour ward. Often students are rather traumatised from attending births and how women are treated and this is very much the focus discussion amongst meditation, learning skills when attending women in labour and understanding better the emotional and psychological aspects of labour and birth. These tutorials are usually well received and have been deemed a success. By the time the 5th years are in their gynaecology rotation, the students have hardened from their experiences, sometimes the Compassion tutorials fell a bit flat because they seemed not to deal with the real issues the students were faced with. One day, I decided to tackle the subject of compassion from the perspective of working with women who had been sexually abused. Something shifted. The feedback was very positive from the students. I have now been regularly speaking on the subject matter for the nearly two years. Over and over again I hear the words, “I wish I had had this information sooner – it will certainly change the way I work with women in the future.” That feedback is enough to make me want to spread this message far and wide. I will touch on two aspects of what I share with them here today: I emphasise the prevalence of sexual abuse in South African society. As mentioned previously, 1 in 3 girls will have experienced some form of sexual coercion before the age of 18. Let that sink in. These statistics made me think that we needed some sort of sexual abuse universal precautions in place...
Read MoreDear Zuma…
What is this nonsense I hear about you wanting to separate teenage mothers from their babies, and wanting to send those same teenage mothers away to a place like Robben Island to finish their education? “They must be … forced to go to school far away,” You said, “They must be educated by government until they are empowered. Take them to Robben Island … make them sit there and study until they are qualified to come back and work to look after their kids.” Wow! This makes me so angry – how dare you? No talk of support? Or education? Have you ever been a teenage girl in South Africa? South Africa – this wonderful country of ours but where women are more likely to be raped than educated? South Africa – this beautiful country of ours where one in 6 girls before the age of twelve has been sexually abused? The same South Africa? Have you ever been pregnant? Given birth? Been flooded with the hormones of labour and then had your baby snatched from you? Taken away? Been separated? Had your breasts aching with milk and longing? How archaic is your thinking? ...
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