Module 6

Gather – Pre-Class Work – RJ Show and Tell

Write the prompt before the session begins: 

  • What RJ issues do you see happening in your example?
  • What do you think is happening in this situation?
  • I wonder how this could be different?

Ground – Opening and Check In

Radical Gratitude Spell, adrienne maree brown
Also found in Pleasure Activism, 2019, p. 401-2
Watch a video of adrienne maree brown reading this spell: https://www.instagram.com/adriennemareebrown/p/CIrrErTgBwJ/ 

a spell to cast upon meeting a stranger, comrade, or friend working for social and/or environmental justice and liberation:

you are a miracle walking
i greet you with wonder 
in a world which seeks to own 
your joy and your imagination 
you have chosen to be free, 
every day, as a practice. 
i can never know
the struggles you went through to get here, 
but i know you have swum upstream 
and at times it has been lonely

i want you to know
¡ honor the choices you made in solitude 
and i honor the work you have done to 
belong
i honor your commitment to that which is 
larger than yourself 
and your journey
to love the particular container of life 
that is you

you are enough
your work is enough
you are needed 
your work is sacred 
you are here 
and i am grateful

Check In

  • Introduction instructions in the chat: Name, Pronouns, What is one word or sound that represents how you are feeling or arriving?
  • Are there any themes or pressing content that came up in your RJ Show and Tell discussions?

Introduction to Modules 6-8: Commitments

SACReD’s Commitments

This community commits to: 

  • Creating loving, justice-seeking faith communities where shame, judgment, and stigma for diverse reproductive decisions and journeys have no place. 
  • Supporting the work of parenting and the healthy growth of children in safe, sustainable, and nurturing communities. 
  • Advocating for equitable access to the full spectrum of comprehensive reproductive healthcare as a moral and social good, and supporting the fulfillment of reproductive moral agency and flourishing for all. 

Transformation can happen in a number of ways. SisterSong informs us that any transformation that leads to Reproductive Justice requires us to regularly: 

  1. Analyze power systems
  2. Address intersecting oppressions
  3. Center the most marginalized. 
  4. Join together across issues and identities
Brief Group Discussion
  • What are your initial thoughts about these Commitments and the requirements for RJ transformation? 
  • How can you incorporate the requirements into your personal life? 
  • Think about ways in which you participate in power systems. How you feel about working issues of injustice that aren’t immediately and personally relevant to you?

Study – Transformation

What is Transformation (noun)

  • An act, process or instance of being changed in composition or structure
  • An act, process or instance of changing the outward form of appearance of
  • An act, process or instance of changing in character or condition 

Transformation implies a “major change in form, nature, or function.”

Testimony of Personal Transformation

As you are watching/listening to this media, keep in mind these things in mind:

  1. What had to shift in and around them for change to happen?
  2. Pay attention to where fear and shame appear in their stories. Notice how it participates in their transformation.

Facilitation Note: Pick only one of these media to use based on the make-up of your group. Encourage them to journal, doodle, or fidget if that helps them to listen and process.

Options: 

Large Group Discussion 
  1. What stands out to you about this story?
  2. What made the person want to transform?
  3. What relationships supported or hindered the transformation?
  4. What made the transformation difficult? What blocks or struggles were encountered?
  5. How did shame play a part in this transformation?

Engage – What is your personal Reproductive Justice Commitment?

Reflection Questions
  1. How have you experienced reproductive (in-)justice in your personal life and story? How does that experience connect to why you wish to participate in this work now?
  2. What are the range of emotions you have around being an instigator for Reproductive Justice? (i.e. What are you excited about? What are you afraid of? What are you nervous you might mess up?)
  3. Where do you have shame around reproductive and sexuality issues? How might that shame be affecting your ability to transform? 
  4. What needs to transform in your personal beliefs, behaviors, biases, or habits to more deeply commit to the work of Reproductive Justice? What support/resources do you need to support you in that shift??
  5. In the most concrete, day-to-day terms, where/how do you think you are most energized to deepen your personal practice of Reproductive Justice commitments?  What are your next best opportunities over the next 6 months?

Debrief Question: How did it feel to share your commitments with your partner(s)?

Send – Looking Ahead and Closing

Homework: 
  1. Prepare your RJ Show and Tell item
  2. Complete this journal prompt: Thinking about today’s session on personal transformation, reflect on how your immediate community is working toward, undermining, and discovering growing edges around commitments to Reproductive Justice. 
  3. Read the 4 short case studies that provide examples of internal transformation at the local level. Find the links on the Resource page. Think about the change occurring and what allowed it to happen. Facilitators make sure to email the links to the group ahead of Module 7.