On the Farm, one of the things that was different about
us from a lot of hippy stuff was that women got to say whether
they got touched or not. They could say, "I don't want
you to touch me," and you didn't get to argue about
that.
We had pretty strict rules about being that way with women,
and the result of it was that Farm ladies nursed freely
in public and nobody gave them any crap about it. And the
women were really grateful that they had that safe place
to be, and often expressed their gratefulness.
Another Farm custom regarding women was this: If you're
dating a single mother, you're courting the child, too.
One of the reasons the midwives were so successful on the
Farm was because the men backed them up. If we only had
one running truck on the Farm, it belonged to a midwife.
And if a midwife called up a mechanic at three o'clock in
the morning and said, "My truck won't start,"
he came out and started her truck for her.
Ms. magazine wrote a nice article about the Farm,
saying that the Farm was something special for having created
an atmosphere where a truly woman-based system of obstetrics
could evolve.
The result of the Farm's woman-based approach was that
our midwives had better birth mortality statistics than
any hospitals in the United States. And they've had better
birth mortality statistics than the 14 countries that are
ahead of the United States.
Women's freedom is not just about wages. It's also about
respecting women's energy. You don't get to act like you
should have some of that energy if you're not in an agreed-on
relationship with her.
If a woman's attitude is, "I'd just as soon not be
handled," then men don't get to come up and whip a
big hug on her.
