For years, I’ve been saying, “I ought to write a book about my dissertation.” I mean, while I was writing the damn thing I kept saying over and over, “I don’t want this to just be something that collects dust, I want it to MEAN something.” It even has a title, “Modern American Virgin: Stories of Women’s Reproductive Life in America.”
And yet...those sixty-eight stories are collecting so much virtual dust.
Sixty-eight stories about how women in rural California navigate religious bullshit to decide whether or not to use contraception.
Sixty-eight stories of heartbreak and joy, secrets and triumphs.
Sixty-eight stories of how every single one of those women worked her entire life to not become one of “those girls.”
You know those girls.
The whore girls.
The girls who were too easy.
The girls who slept around.
You know those girls.
The girls who were moms before 15.
The girls who couldn’t get it together to get on the pill.
The girls who had an abortion because they didn’t get on the pill.
Sixty-eight stories of women who had seen it all. Women who had battled parents and boyfriends, been assaulted and brutalized, who wanted to live the life of the Madonna and yet loved so hard they became the whore. Women who shamed and judged other women for their choices, because they had better ideas about how to protect themselves against unintended pregnancy and abortion.
For years, I’ve been saying, “I ought to tell the stories of those women” but for now I think I will leave their stories in the vault.
Do you have a story you are ready to tell? I would LOVE to chat with you about working with me. Get on my schedule and let’s talk today!
I love you,
Dr. Melissa Bird