10 Reasons Why "The Feminist Breeder" Is Not a Feminist

If you've spent any time at all in feminist or parenting circles on the internet, you've no doubt encountered Gina Crosley-Corcoran, who runs the blog and Facebook page "The Feminist Breeder." Despite the name, there is nothing  remotely feminist about The Feminist Breeder. Gina Crosley Corcoran is, in fact, the very antithesis of what a feminist is.

Let me make this part clear upfront: I agree with Gina that childbirth is a feminist issue. It absolutely is. I also agree with Gina that, in the most cases, unmedicated childbirth is an empowering and beautiful process that benefits the mother and the child. But, unlike Ms. Corcoran, I don't think that I have any business demanding what other women do with their own bodies, because I have the radical notion that other women's bodies don't belong to me. 

Here's why The Feminist Breeder is no feminist.

1. Feminists don't control other women's vaginas.

Gina's blog and Facebook page are completely covered in her condemnation of doctors who perform C-sections that she deems unnecessary. It's a little strange to me that she thinks she's qualified to offer a second opinion on a C-section, since she is not a doctor or nurse-midwife and has never treated any of the patients she discusses on her blog. But there it is, almost every day: Gina telling other women that how they give birth is wrong because they decide, under the care of their health care providers, not to give birth through their vaginas.

2. Feminists don't control other women's breasts.

I breastfed my babies. I loved every moment of it. But those are my breasts. The Feminist Breeder's utter condemnation of formula-feeding is decidedly anti-feminist, because you can't possibly call yourself a feminist if you think you have any business policing what other women do with their bodies. There are many women who can't nurse for medical reasons-- I reluctantly had to admit that I was one of them-- and sometimes women can't breastfeed because they can't face issues like body shaming, traumatic memories of abuse, and internalized sexist stigma. Forcing women to undergo something emotionally or physically dangerous to them is decidedly unfeminist.

3. Feminists don't shame women who need medication.

The Feminist Breeder is full of shame and anger toward women who use drugs, either legally to cope with childbirth pain and complications, or illegally because they suffer from addiction. Exhibit A:

Addiction is a disease, and a serious one at that. Not to mention, some women can not tolerate the pain from labor and need relief. Controlling and shaming women who use medication for whatever reason is not feminist. It's especially not feminist when it's hypocritical, since it comes from a woman who by her own admission actually lives "on a steady diet of Lexapro and Abilify."

4. Feminists are intersectional.

Modern third-wave feminism is, by definition, at its core, intersectional. It addresses the needs of other oppressed communities besides women, particularly the LGBT community and minority races. A feminist would not say things that are openly racist and culturally appropriative. A white feminist, would not, for example, declare herself "a strong black woman" just for shits and giggles.

5. Feminists care about abused women.
More than they care about whether or not those women can give birth in their own apartments. The Feminist Breeder made a post claiming that she had been contacted by a pregnant woman who was being abused by her husband. A feminist would get an abuse victim the help she needed to escape the relationship safely. But what did Gina do? Instead, she tried to pan-handle to help the alleged abuse victim give birth at home. 

6. Feminists believe unplanned pregnancies are a private, not public, matter.

But Gina felt a need to get attention over the fact that her period was a day or two late and that her husband's vasectomy had not failed. Feminism supports the notion that women's bodies, and the unplanned conceptions that may happen in them, are not subjects that should be brought to the attention of the public. Gina disagrees and seems to think that her audience should weigh in on what may or may not have happened in her fallopian tubes three weeks ago.

7. Feminists don't want or expect to have sugar daddies.

Many feminists are stay-at-home moms or have husbands who out-earn them. There's nothing wrong with that. There is, however, something wrong with declaring that you wish your husband made more money, when he's already the one pulling the vast majority of the financial weight of the marriage. Here's a suggestion, Gina: if you're going to wish for something and still try to keep that "Feminist" on your blog name, wish that you yourself were a more competent earner in a more fair economy. Don't wish for your husband to magically become the wealthy Prince Charming you've been waiting for. 

8. Feminists support the inventions that have liberated women.
While it is perfectly acceptable to choose to birth naturally, breastfeed, and eschew hormonal birth control (these are all decisions that I myself have made), it's not acceptable to condemn women who choose epidurals, formula, or The Pill. These inventions are among the most powerful forces of women's liberation. Because of epidurals, women are able to give birth without having to endure horrendous pain. Because of formula, women who have been traumatized by sexual abuse don't have to do something that triggers panic attacks ten times a day. Because of hormonal birth control, women are not enslaved into decades of pregnancy and childbirth spanning the entirety of their reproductive lives. The Feminist Breeder's complete condemnation of these inventions, as "The Skeptical OB" Amy Tuteur points out, means that she has more in common with the anti-feminist Quiverful movement than she has in common with feminism.

9. Feminists support women's mental health.

Gina has openly stated that she suffers from severe depression, and she routinely posts vague, thinly veiled threats of suicide on Facebook and Twitter. This is no laughing matter. Depression kills. And, as much as I can't stand The Feminist Breeder, I don't wish harm on her and I would call for help if I were the first person to see her post a suicide threat. Yet, during the many occasions in which she has made public suicide threats and her followers have called for welfare checks, she has immediately expressed outrage and anger. This isn't an appropriate response. A feminist who cares about women's health would be grateful that her audience understands how serious suicide threats are.

10. Feminists want childbirth to be safe.

We've come a long way since the dark days when women and children died constantly from complications of childbirth. There were a few times in history when as many as half of women succumbed to infection and hemorrhage from childbirth. Even still, today, in areas where women can not access C-sections and other life-saving interventions, the rate of complication is staggeringly high. Babies are stillborn after days of agonizing labor. Mothers are left with obstetric fistulas-- holes in their vaginas that leak foul-smelling combinations of urine, feces, and pus. Mothers bleed to death in front of their spouses and children, who are helpless to stop it. Childbirth is beautiful when it goes right-- but when it goes wrong, it is one of the most horrific and deadly realities that we face as a species.

The Feminist Breeder hides the reality of childbirth to fit her own agenda. She gives incorrect, skewed, and dangerously misinformed medical advice to her clients and audience. She hides information about mothers and babies who die during childbirth. She advocates for homebirths overseen by under-qualified lay midwives and judges those who question their safety. Much of this battle is played out on The Skeptical OB, a blog run by heroic feminist doctor Amy Tuteur, whose advocacy for safer birth has led to dozens of tantrums and threats from Gina herself.

My feminism is about choice. I chose to make many of the same decisions as the woman who calls herself The Feminist Breeder. But, unlike her, I understand that my choices end with my own body. Just as I have no right to choose how other women have sex or whether they have abortions, I have no right to choose how other women give birth or feed their babies. That's what makes me a feminist. That's what makes Gina Crosley-Corcoban an enemy of feminism.