Let’s talk about reproductive justice

What’s on offer?

The format of the event will be as following:
- Introduction by Onna Malou van den Broek, based on their essay and research (5 minutes)
- Breathing exercise, led by a local yoga teacher (5 minutes)
- Short student documentary: “Childfree” by Sara Bahramjahan (30 minutes)
- Main documentary: “My So-Called Selfish Life” by Therese Shechter (77 minutes)
- Discussion (assembly style) led by 99p team. Some guiding questions (subject to change): How do we share caring and loving beyond family boundaries? How do we define “legacy” and what is ours? How can we organise society beyond rigid biological families, including living arrangements? How do we deal with eco-anxiety, or general anxiety, in our live choices? How does reproductive justice link to wellbeing across ages? (60 minutes)
- Communal fest with locally produced food to continue the discussions more informally (60 minutes). Again, since the topic is so sensitive, I deem it irresponsible and counter productive to send people back home right after an emotional discussion. The fest will allow participants to process, continue conversations more informally, connect with other participants, discuss how this influence their lives, and give their new ideas a place. 
 

What’s it about?

As you can imagine, talking about reproductive justice is sensitive and emotional. Therefore, Onna has teamed up with “99p films” to ensure we create a safe space. This community-interest cinema has developed an innovative way to discuss social issues (and, interestingly, it was is set up by students). Their aim is to connect people, raise awareness about social and environmental issues, and inspire direct action for a better future. They do this by incorporating mindful breathing at the start, facilitating engaging discussions throughout, and culminating in a communal feast. Onna has attended three of their screenings about ocean health, decline in biodiversity, and big corporate powers and was impressed by the open and honest discussions that followed the screenings, both in the formal discussion and at the diner table. 
 

Who’s leading the event?

Dr Onna Van Den Broek 

Open to

All are welcome!

Of particular interest to

The event is deliberatively open to anyone. Given the topic, however, Onna is particularly keen to engage people in their reproductive years, roughly between the ages of 14 and 44. This group bears the “choice” of reproduction. In addition, people who are older and have lived a childfree life or have regrets about being a parent. Nevertheless, anyone who is interested in exploring this topic is welcome, that includes happy parents. 

Event Booking details

Tickets can be reserved at the 99p film website. They will be up in a weeks time.