You are going to want to sit back and take notes for this one. Today's guest Bintou Diarra and I get in-depth about birth trauma and the current state of maternal health care in the US. We discuss the origins of the issues infecting the medicalized birth system which has taken hold today, including our earliest indoctrination into the female body as pathology in sex ed and structural racism and implicit bias. Bintou details the culture most physicians are steeped in and how it leads directly to negative outcomes in the birthing process. She explains why having a doula may help mitigate some of this and also why a doula can not fix it all. We discuss preeclampsia, endometriosis, and the horrific birth outcome inequities for people of color. Finally, we cover power inequity and imagine a restructuring of the system which would allow for empowering birth stories for all. In this episode, Bintou references and recommends the book Birth Control by Allison Yarrow and the documentary Below the Belt, the Last Health Taboo both of which are excellent resources for continued education on this topic. Make sure to check out both Bintou's individual links and the work she does at MamaGlow. https://beacons.ai/bintouhq instagram.com/bintouhq mamaglow.com instagram.com/mamaglow -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Your support is deeply appreciated! Find me, Lara, on my Website / Instagram You can support this podcast with any level of donation here. Order The Essential Guide to Trauma Sensitive Yoga: How to Create Safer Spaces for All Opening and Closing music: Other People's Photographs courtesy of Daniel Zaitchik. Follow Daniel on Spotify.