Guest post by Gemma McKenzie “[T]hey just wanted me to be a faceless person, who would lie down and let them do what they wanted me to do… I feel like our whole system feeds into us being obedient, submissive, good girls, and other people taking what’s rightfully ours…” These are the words of an interviewee from my recent study on freebirthing in the UK. I had interviewed sixteen women about their experiences of intentionally giving birth without doctors or midwives present. These were not stories of fast labours and failed attempts to get to the hospital in time; these… Read More
Crafting Contention through MadZines: Helen Spandler in conversation with Meg-John Barker
The MadZines research project is exploring how zines craft contention about mental health knowledge and practice. One of the purposes of the project is to explore the potential of zines to foster dialogue about contested issues in mental health. As part of this, the project team are having a series of dialogues with Mad-Zinesters (people who create and share zines about madness and distress). In the following extract from one of these conversations, Helen Spandler (HS) talks to Meg-John Barker (MJB) about how the comic graphics in their zines ‘craft contention’ about mental health. HS: Can you remember how… Read More
