shame

She’s made all the mistakes, so you don’t have to… Ask Erin is a weekly advice column, in which Erin answers your burning questions about anything at all.

Pregnancy has the potential to be one of the happiest times in a woman’s life.

LA-based plus-size model Simone Mariposa has sparked a social media chain of women who refuse to let the opinions of others dictate their clothing choices. “Every plus-size girl has had to bear the terrible brunt of being judged/policed for what we wear and how we wear it,” she tweeted.

Teeth are inseparable from class in this country. I have gotten by in life largely by being able to “pass” as middle class, by being white and articulate and confident. People meet me and assume that I must have gone to college. Middle class people talk to me like I’m their peer. But I am not their peer. I will never be their peer.

We know that this year alone, one in five Australians will experience some form of mental illness. What we might not know is that only one in four will receive a get well or greeting card. Studies have indicated that psychiatric inpatients receive only “half as many cards and gifts when compared to medical inpatients.” Two Australian sisters, Trudy and Sam, intend to change that.

We compare birth stories like war stories. Twelve hours of labor, 32 hours of labor, three hours of pushing, we fall into the trap of trying to one-up each other. So yes, I can see why, to a parent-to-be who is enthusiastically anticipating pain relief, the refusal of an epidural might seem like a bit of a hero complex. And maybe for some people it is! But it’s none of your goddamn business.

The Internet has told us that instead of selling our wild summer children to a band of traveling performers, we should go swimming with them instead. At a beach or at the pool, your choice. The Internet also told us that us moms should get over our silly body issues and just play! Have fun!

My initial reaction when I first heard about women who reported orgasms during birth was that they were lying braggarts — mainly because I was jealous I had never experienced this phenomenon. But since I’ve become a birth doula, [...] I’ve witnessed many women experience multiple orgasms during birth.