Module 2

Extended In-Person “Intersectional Oppressions and Responses”

For those engaging these resources as a group instead of as homework, watch these video resources one at a time as a group. Watching the videos and group discussion may take 1.5-2 hours. Point out the following questions ahead of time, and encourage participants to write down questions or thoughts about the content as they watch. Participants may also doodle or fidget if that helps them to listen and process.

Before each section below, review the glossary terms for each of the headings. Write down any questions or clarifications participants need about these terms. Capture these questions on a whiteboard or easel pad for all participants to see.

After each section, discuss the following questions: 

  • What questions do you have about what you watched? 
  • How can this group help you to understand these concepts better?
  • How does this topic relate with your religious tradition?

Facilitator Note: You may want to take a short break after the third section to allow participants to rest and process the initial three topics. 

  1. Race and Racism:
  2. White Christian Nationalism:
  3. Patriarchy:
  4. Liberation Theology:
  5. Black Liberation Theology + Womanist Theology

After watching all these videos, have participants discuss these questions in small groups (or as one large group, depending on the size of your session). 

  • How might racism, patriarchy, or White Christian Nationalism impact Reproductive Justice? What intersections do we see? 
  • How do these topics intersect with the concerns of Reproductive Justice?
  • Were your questions from the beginning of this module about these terms answered? What questions or curiosities remain? 

Materials

  • For virtual facilitation, you can use a tool like the Zoom virtual whiteboard or Mural (free) to begin the Community Covenant. Participants can add their answers via the sticky notes feature, or via their own text boxes. You can also use different-colored sticky notes to delineate responses. Be mindful of people who may be color-blind in your group.  
  • If you are new to using virtual whiteboards and similar tools, you can learn more here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0nMPqe10GE

Gather – Opening and Check In

Vision from the Blue Plane-Window by Ernesto Cardenal

In the round little window, everything is blue,
land bluish, blue-green, blue
(and sky)
everything is blue
blue lakes and lagoons
blue volcanoes
while farther off the land looks bluer
blue islands in a blue lake.
This is the face of the land liberated.
And where all the people fought, I think:
for love!
To live without the hatred
of exploitation.
To love one another in a beautiful land
so beautiful, not only in itself
but because of the people in it,
above all because of the people in it.
That’s why God gave us this beautiful land
for the society in it.
And in all those blue places they fought, suffered
for a society of love
here in this land.
 
One patch of blue looks more intense…
And I thought I was seeing the sites of all the battles there,
and of all the deaths,
behind that small, round windowpane
blue
all the shades of blue.

From Pluriverse, by Ernesto Cardenal, translated by Jonathan Cohen. Copyright © 2009. Used by permission of New Directions. All rights reserved.

Check In
  • Introduction instructions in the chat: Name, Pronouns, What is one word or sound that represents how you are feeling or arriving?

Ground – Intersectional Oppressions and Responses

  1. Race and Racism:
  2. White Christian Nationalism:
  3. Patriarchy:
  4. Liberation Theology:
  5. Black Liberation Theology + Womanist Theology

In addition, all participants should read through the glossary definitions of these terms and take some time to journal and reflect on the following questions:

  • How does your video content intersect with the concerns of Reproductive Justice?
  • How might racism, patriarchy, or White Christian Nationalism impact Reproductive Justice? 
  • What questions do you have about what you watched? 
  • How can this group help you to understand these concepts better?
  • How do these topics relate with your religious tradition?

Study – How We Got Here and What is at Stake: Reproductive Justice and Injustice 

Reproductive Justice Timeline

For more information about particular events in this exercise, refer to the links below.

RJ Timeline Discussion Questions
  • What pieces or orders of this history were a surprise to you? 
  • What is missing from the timeline? What other events would you add?
  • What story does this timeline tell? Is it a story of progress? Are there places or times that progress happened for some social groups at the expense of others?
  • Where on this timeline do you see the following intersectional oppressions at work? How do you see them work together?
    • Racism
    • Patriarchy
    • Economic Exploitation
    • Other forms of oppression or marginalization
  • How do your own stories of reproductive in-justice fit in to this historical framework?

Engage – How Do We Heal? Faith-Specific Theologies and Ethics

Liberation Theology was developed by faith leaders and scholars in Latin America in the mid 20th century and has expanded across the world and into the U.S. Liberation theology is a faith-based belief in a vision of justice that a divine will, human goodness, and/or the ground of being, etc. wants for all people. Such a vision is typically paired with a moral critique of the injustices that cause great suffering. Many of us may be primarily familiar with the versions that come out of the Christian tradition, but Buddhists, Jews, Muslims, and others have similar religious visions, as it is a human yearning to be free from oppression.

Dr. Emilie Townes, a foremother of Womanism, defines Womanist Theology as the following: 

Womanist Theology is a form of reflection that places the religious and moral perspectives of Black women at the center of its method. Issues of class, gender (including sex, sexism, sexuality, and sexual exploitation), and race are seen as theological problems. Womanist theology takes old (traditional) religious language and symbols and gives them new (more diverse and complex) meaning. This form of theological reflection cannot be termed “womanist” simply because the subject is Black women’s religious experiences. The key for womanist theology is the use of an interstructured analysis employing class, gender, and race. This kind of analysis is both descriptive (an analysis and sociohistorical perspective of Black life and Black religious worldviews) and prescriptive (offering suggestions for the eradication of oppression in the lives of African Americans and, by extension, the rest of humanity and creation). 

Faith-Specific resources on Liberation Theology:

Discussion Questions 
  • What aspects of your tradition resonate with and/or directly express forms of liberation theology? 
  • What stories, precepts, or ethical principles from your own traditions could be used to promote reproductive justice? 
  • How would you put this theology in your own words?
  • How might you express a liberation theology for today, with today’s suffering and justice concerns in mind?

SACReD’s Approach to Transformation for Reproductive Justice

SACReD’s Foundational Affirmation:

Grounded in the justice principles that are at the heart of our religious traditions, we are committed to equity, dignity, and holistic well-being for all people. We recognize that reproductive issues are integral to social justice and cannot be exiled from our sphere of moral concern if we are to fully live out our commitment to human flourishing. Similarly, as reproductive concerns are inherently tied to intersecting systems of oppression, particularly those of patriarchy, racism, and poverty, we know we cannot isolate a narrow reproductive interest from a broader justice agenda. We acknowledge that as religious communities we have a particular responsibility to promote healing, bring new understanding, and make changes as religion has contributed to trauma, faith alienation, and afflictions of mental health related to reproduction.

Brief Group Discussion

  • What are your initial thoughts about this Foundational Affirmation and the overlaps with Liberation Theology and Womanism?
  • Do you feel comfortable with this Foundational Affirmation right now? Why or why not? 
  • On a scale of 1-10, how likely would your faith community be to agree with this Foundational Affirmation today?
  • What part(s) feel sticky to you? What questions linger before you could say “yes!” to this Foundational Affirmation?

Send – Looking Ahead and Closing

Homework
  1. Prepare your RJ Show and Tell item
  2. Watch the video: Vox – How Abortion Bans Make Inequality Worse (10:46) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1O_YHxd_HWQ&t=183s
    • Journal and reflect: What did you learn from this video? Who has power and agency in these stories? How are reproductive moral judgments stereotypes, and stigmas showing up for each person?
  3. Depending on the size of your group, assign individuals or small groups to review the following material from before the next session. Read the 7 short case studies that provide examples of Reproductive Justice or reproductive oppression. Find the links on the Resource page. Look for ways that the tenets of Reproductive Justice are violated or upheld in each story. Facilitators make sure to email the links to the group ahead of Module 3.

Reflection Prompts: 

  • What have you learned so far? 
  • What has surprised you? What hasn’t surprised you?
  • Has anything we have discussed given you hope? Made you feel despair?
  • What are you hoping for moving forward with this curriculum? 

blessing the boats by Lucille Clifton

(at St. Mary’s)
may the tide
that is entering even now
the lip of our understanding
carry you out
beyond the face of fear
may you kiss
the wind then turn from it
certain that it will
love your back may you
open your eyes to water
water waving forever
and may you in your innocence
sail through this to that

From Quilting: Poems 1987–1990 by Lucille Clifton. Copyright © 2001 by Lucille Clifton. Reprinted with permission of BOA Editions Ltd. All rights reserved.

Additional Resources

These are optional supplements intended to support participants and facilitators on A SACReD Journey.

Video: Voice of America – Roman Catholic Women Priests “Female ‘Priests’ Secretly Celebrating Catholic Masses” (3:41) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5C46wQz6XAY 

Practicing Liberation

Article: Bobbie Harro “The Cycle of Liberation” https://geography.washington.edu/sites/geography/files/documents/harro-cycle-of-liberation.pdf 

Video: Reset DOC – Diologues on Civilizations “Asma Barlas – Women’s Rights from within the Qur’an” (4:42) https://youtu.be/8ac6gA5kbzs?feature=shared 

Video: CBS Boston – Pastor Brandon Thomas Crowley “Gay pastor of Myrtle Baptist Church in Newton seeks to open minds” (4:18) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uDVTzflKlI