Visiting Let’s Talk About Sex in Dallas

Over the past weekend, I was fortunate to be funded by the Newcomb Institute to attend the Let’s Talk About Sex conference in Dallas. The LTAS was the 5th national Reproductive Justice conference and was hosted by SisterSong, an organization whose mission is to strengthen and uplift the voices of indigenous and people of color. This was an amazing experience because I was able to build upon my academic understanding of Reproductive Justice and contextualize what it means to build community. I was happy to see that most of the speakers were BIPOC and acknowledgments were given for all of the small organizations and the work they have done on a local scale; like walking people into clinics, protesting and organizing or being a doula/midwife. I was able to meet so many passionate people who were committed to helping create the blueprint for a body revolution.

Across the broad fields within the movement, there was a consistent theme of providing care in places in which the government had failed before. It is so crucial to understand and promote the synergy between fields like research, policy, public health, social work, spiritual healing, and community care. This conference did this by centering on the people the most impacted by reproductive oppression, understanding the history of misogyny, enslavement, colonization, and patriarchy, and having them speak about the ways they are shattering these systems. I am so thankful to have been a small part in this shift in the paradigm.