Whose Body Is It

Support the Whose Body Is It podcast by becoming a paid subscriberIn this episode Laura Shanley shares the deeply personal journey that led her to write Unassisted Childbirth -originally titled The Joy of Childbirth- a book published in 1994 that has since found its way into over 1,000 libraries worldwide. Long before “free birth” was a movement or an identity, Laura was navigating the path of unassisted childbirth largely alone—choosing unassisted birth for her five children in the 1970s and 80s without ever knowingly having met another woman who had done the same. Inspired by Grantly Dick-Read’s Childbirth Without Fear -the book her future husband was reading the very night they met - Laura’s philosophy was shaped by her intuition, pursuit of spirituality and a higher consciousness, and a refusal to accept fear-based narratives around birth.Laura discusses how her work gained attention: including the pressure to turn her book into a “how-to manual,” and to write about who should and shouldn’t birth unassisted…lines she felt were never her place to draw. Many of the births she documents in her book and website, weren’t even intentional acts of defiance, but the natural result of fast, pleasurable labors. While Laura found allies like HypnoBirthing founder Marie Mongan, she also faced fierce criticism from midwives and the medical community, especially after experiencing a stillbirth, an event her detractors seized on as proof that unassisted birth leads to tragedy. The episode closes with Laura’s reflections on free birth subculture, infant loss, and what is lost when complex human experiences are flattened into dogma. Unassisted Childbirth Website✦✦✦⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow Whose Body Is It on Instagram →⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Shop Activist Stickers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ →⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The BEST grass-fed beef sticks, skin care and more →⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Music //⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Time by ASHUTOSH⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Music promoted by Free Stock Music⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License⁠

⁠⁠♡ Support the podcast by becoming a paid Substack subscriber →⁠⁠In this episode, we explore how Freya Kellet—once deeply immersed in free birth society ideology—gradually reshaped her beliefs through working with women and during her pregnancy and birth of her son. Feeling the pressure of the invisible “judgment day” of whether her birth would be “successful,” she faced the emotional weight of being publicly vocal about free birth while privately navigating uncertainty. As she made peace with the possibility of interventions, even a c-section, Freya discovered a more grounded trust in herself. Her identity, her relationship with her son, and the health of her marriage would not be determined by the outcome of a single birth experience. Freya, the first student to enroll in the Radical Birth Keeper School in 2020, reflects on what drew her into unassisted childbirth online communities and how her views have evolved since. Our conversation dives into the nuance of free birth dogma versus unassisted birth supported by first-aid knowledge and contingency plans, the role of biomechanics, and whether home birth “failures” can really be blamed on a lack of surrender or inner work. We also share our reactions to the recent Guardian article and what it revealed about the loss of nuance within free birth spaces. This episode may challenge, trigger, or unsettle listeners but we’ve done our best to examine hard questions with honesty and compassion. Most importantly, Freya shares her biggest transformation: not just a shift in beliefs, but a profound change in how she relates to other women—especially birthing mothers, free from freebirth™.Freya's Birth StorySubstack Bonus: Isabella's Birth Work Journey, Grief, Regrets and Recs for Aspiring Birth Keepers (recorded March 2025)The Guardian Article ✦✦✦⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow Whose Body Is It on Instagram →⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Shop Activist Stickers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ →⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The BEST grass-fed beef sticks, skin care and more →⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Music //⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Time by ASHUTOSH⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Music promoted by Free Stock Music⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License

⁠♡ Support the podcast by becoming a paid Substack subscriber →⁠Days before teaching her women and girls safeguarding class, Amy Sousa was given a stage-three breast cancer diagnosis. Suddenly confronted with the very realities she had long analyzed, Amy found herself facing the possibility of losing a breast and being urged toward a radical double mastectomy. Amy details why she refused, what her independent research revealed about treatment statistics most women never hear, and how she was told not to worry because she’d like her new saline breasts even better. Amy dismantles myths around survival rates for lumpectomy versus mastectomy and examines the broader glamorization of harm—how beauty, status, and even self-destructive medical choices are marketed as aspirational.In this episode we also explore how medicalization of our female bodies blurs personal boundaries and Amy discusses how this tension can serve to sharpen our instincts and strengthen collective resistance to men in women’s spaces. We reflect on moments of everyday courage recently demonstrated by Tish Hyman who went viral for confronting a man in the women’s locker room at Gold’s Gym in LA. We explore ways to hone our community responses and specifically what parents can do to keep their kids out of the trans cult. This episode calls listeners back to the wisdom of our mammalian instincts for both safety and procreation, and offer strategies for how to eat the transgender insanity from the inside out.⁠Keep Your Kids Out of The Trans Cult⁠Follow Amy on FacebookFollow Amy on Instagram ✦✦✦⁠⁠⁠Follow Whose Body Is It on Instagram →⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Shop Activist Stickers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ →⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The BEST grass-fed beef sticks, skin care and more →⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Music //⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Time by ASHUTOSH⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Music promoted by Free Stock Music⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License

⁠⁠♡ Support the podcast by becoming a paid Substack subscriber →⁠⁠Know in 4hrs: Decide whether or not to freeze your eggs, do IVF or surrogacyDr. Naomi Whittaker joins us to expose what’s really happening inside the fertility and women’s health industries. As a Creighton-trained OBGYN and surgeon, Dr. Whittaker didn’t enter this field because she liked what she saw — she wanted to change it. Her personal story runs very deep: her grandmother died after a C-section in communist Poland, and decades later, Dr. Whittaker found herself confronted with the same unnecessary major abdominal surgery. We talk about the epigenetic roots of endometriosis, the rebranding of infertility as a “disease,” and the urgent need to prioritize safe over merely “effective” interventions.Dr. Whittaker also reveals the hidden economics of fertility care, everything from insurance reimbursement loopholes to the industry’s total lack of accountability for both maternal and infant mobility and mortality. She shares how women suffering from endometriosis can vet their surgeon, what dignified reproductive care should look like, and offers a compassionate message for women who regret freezing their eggs. For those struggling to conceive, she reminds us that the female drive to nurture and create extends far beyond procreation. This is an episode for anyone ready to rethink what real women’s healthcare could look like, when it’s grounded in truth, ethics, and humanity.Dr. Whittaker's ResourcesExplore the Restorative Reproductive Medicine AcademyFollow Dr. Whittaker on Instagram✦✦✦⁠⁠Follow Whose Body Is It on Instagram →⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Shop Activist Stickers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ →⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The BEST grass-fed beef sticks, skin care and more →⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Music //⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Time by ASHUTOSH⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Music promoted by Free Stock Music⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License

⁠⁠♡ Support the podcast by becoming a paid Substack subscriber →⁠⁠Know in 4 hrs: Decide whether or not to freeze your eggs, do IVF or surrogacy.Michigan-based female physiologist Sarah shares her journey from being a proudly non-monogamous, sex-positive liberal feminist to a woman reclaiming her body, fertility, and longing for motherhood. Raised by a single mother who helped shape her world view, she built her trauma healing practice based on an ideology that promised freedom but instead delivered disconnection — from men who truly respect women and from her female body. Sarah opens up about leaving the polyamorous world, witnessing the aftermath of the covid shots in her clinical practice, and facing backlash for simply using the word woman. After years of deprogramming and somatic-based healing, Sarah stands in her truth while continuing to support women of varying ideological beliefs who have been chewed up and spit out by the western medical model, and is ready to conceive for the first time at the age of 44, shedding the lies of overpopulation and climate doom and embracing motherhood as the most radical act of body reclamation. Learn more about Sarah's work Follow Sarah on Instagram✦✦✦⁠Follow Whose Body Is It on Instagram →⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Shop Activist Stickers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ →⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The BEST grass-fed beef sticks, skin care and more →⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Music //⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Time by ASHUTOSH⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Music promoted by Free Stock Music⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License