In the News....
attendance at childbirth education classes has dropped. It has been my first time being interviewed and quoted by a reporter. The USA Today article has been my 15 minutes of notice and has been gratifying. It has also renewed my commitment to get more of my writing published. Tracing this news story throughout the media channels has been interesting too.

Here's a little something about male doulas in Canada. Unfortunately for doulas, when someone like Vince Vaughan comes in to define who and what a doula is to the mass market, they may be in for some troubles. (as in, do you think that film Klingendorf's Tribe was of benefit to cultural anthropologists? ) The public comments were interesting. Many equated the impact of a male doulas to that of doctors in terms of their right to be physically close to a birthing woman. Only occasionally did someone recast the doula's role as emotionally, physically supportive, not clinical. Whereas physician are trained to emotionally detach, doulas typically cathect with their clients. Additionally, some men expressed concern and discomfort around the notion of another man seeing one's wife during this intimate process --- and it's true that many men have experienced this, with male doctors. I wonder how men respond when the women they are with are treated roughly by doctors--any studies about that?

Men and reproduction ... men and childbirth education. In the classes we observed during the course of our research on childbirth education, men were clearly the primary audience for the educators. More on those findings soon.