Some sexual and reproductive health practices have been developed from unethical medical research, often on previously colonized populations. This piece intends to provide spaces to discuss how these issues still affect our practice today and start new conversations about reproductive justice.
1. In what ways do sexual and reproductive health rights movements and initiatives reproduce colonial narratives and structures? There is a lack of focus on the forced sterilization of BIPOC women and many European-descent people are still surprised to learn about forced sterilization, highlighting why awareness needs to be spread on this. For Indigenous people, our moontime was seen as sacred. Indigenous women were seen as life-givers. Because of colonialism, this perspective isn’t as widely held as it once was. First, we were taught menstruation was dirty. We are starting to see a more neutral lens being taught.