Decolonising Doulas - The Pandemic Edition

In retrospect, it’s been going on for quite some time, but I only made the connection recently.

Not that long ago I was reading about how rejecting masks is a form of toxic masculinity (or toxic mask-ulinity!) A study out of Middlesex University found that men are more likely than women to reject face masks during the pandemic and reasons include men believing they won’t catch the disease and that masks are shameful and weak. 

This happened during the aids epidemic too when some men refused to wear condoms to protect their sexual partners - masculine ideology played a bigger role when those partners were women. 

It appeared the choice to refuse a mask is aligned with a sense of indestructibility, privilege and a lack of care for the community and vulnerable people. Since elderly people, black people and people with disabilities are disproportionately affected by COVID-19 it makes sense that rich, white, toxic men don’t really think it’s a big deal.

But then, out of nowhere, I was surprised to see mask-rejection memes being shared by progressive, femme friends and colleagues, especially in the wellness world.

So I’ve been interrogating the intersection of the doula industry and alt-right, hyper-masculine, white extremism, and where we overlap. I’ve been working on decolonising themes for a couple of years now, and I’ve noticed that many people (including myself) revert to colonised thinking in times of fear and stress, so during the pandemic, these overlaps appear to be increasing.

Medical scepticism is common in groups that have been mistreated by the medical system - like birthing women. Obstetrics was famously awarded the wooden spoon by Archie Cochrane in 1979 for being the least evidence-based medical speciality, and unfortunately not much has changed. As Rachel Reed explains “It is easier to introduce and maintain culturally-based practices that lack evidence than to introduce evidence-based practices that challenge the cultural norm” As a result, many mothers feel afraid and doubtful. It’s understandable that we question mainstream medical advice.

Distrust of science, experts and authority have been widespread among the alt-right movement too. It’s confronting to realise we have that in common. And even more disturbing to realise that the alt-right are exploiting this commonality by targeting us with deceptive recruitment campaigns.

Critical thinking or conspiracy thinking?

In an article by Ellen Cushing called I was a Teenage Conspiracy Theorist she explains: 

“To want to interrogate power, make sense of suffering, root out sources of exploitation and deception: None of these are fundamentally bad impulses.” 

Critical thinking and conspiracy thinking are just two points on the same spectrum. 

So where does critical thinking end and conspiracy thinking begin? It’s probably impossible to draw that line. But what we can do is examine our beliefs and check them against alt-right ideology, to explore if those memes we are sharing on social media might, in fact, be unintentionally pushing an extreme right-wing agenda that we ourselves do not agree with. 

Why Does Ideology Matter?

Because the best chance we’ve got to end neo-capitalism and protect women's rights is to elect progressive governments who will tax the mega-rich and invest in universal health care. We need to be careful we aren’t being deceptively recruited by far right and pro-Trump group and then accidentally amplifying their message.

QAnon, for example, are considered a domestic terrorist threat by the FBI and do more harm than good when it comes to stopping child abuse. Medical Freedom Patriots is another example of deceptive recruitment - a spin off from a group against mandatory vaccines that aims to get Republicans elected and puts pressure on elected officials by mobilising a far-right audience. If you are worried about human rights and bodily autonomy (especially for women) Trump is not your friend.

The last thing we want to do is overthrow the patriarchy with… the patriarchy!

The entire world has been shocked by the pandemic - we are still reeling - but experts have been warning us that it’s been coming for years. In fact, they were so sure that they even started trying to sell pandemic insurance to industries like hospitality and tourism (no one bought it!)

It made me wonder… “What other catastrophes are coming that we aren’t planning for, but that could disrupt our lives, homes, jobs or our broader society in the next few years or decades?” 

The number one, near-term threat is the globalisation of white supremacy. You can read more about that here. Already White Supremacist terrorists kill more people in the US than Muslim terrorists.

And the scary thing is, these neo-Nazi’s are gathering online in Australia too. Taking advantage of the confusion of the pandemic to spread their own fascist, misogynist, racist agenda, which sometimes get picked up by wellness influencers due to our shared distrust of authority and deceptive recruitment techniques.

“The goal these days is to shift the mainstream political debate to the far-right around certain key ideas: white genocide, the importance of rejecting globalism, and establishing a white ethnostate. This process is called shifting the "Overton window" and is based on the idea that politics and policy can be deeply influenced by expanding what's acceptable to talk about publicly.”

How do we protect ourselves?

When you are making sense of the barrage of information being thrown at you online it’s worth taking the time to check the original source. I don’t simply mean looking for peer-reviewed articles, I mean look for alt-right language like ‘civil liberty’ and ‘religious freedom’ and ‘God-given rights.’ Be wary of patriotism, nationalism and sovereign citizenship. Check if the source is trying to undermine universal healthcare, or perhaps has other racists, entitled, fundamentalist or violent views that you don’t agree with. Many of these groups are also climate-deniers and even holocaust-deniers.

This doesn’t just apply to face masks. We are having to make all sorts of rapid decisions in this stressful environment with overwhelming amounts of information.

Before you share that meme, slogan, hashtag or idea here are some questions to interrogate information with:

1. What’s The Source? 

   Do they have some other alt-right agenda that you don’t actually mean to promote? Check the hashtags, they can be intentionally misleading.

2. Are The References Relevant? 

   Looking for peer-reviewed articles is important, but also make sure those references are related to the memes and slogans shared throughout the article. A long list of references can look fancy but sometimes they are on completely different topics.

3. How Likely Is It?

   The more unbelievable the information, the more effort we should put into questioning it and finding proof. Words like 'poison' or 'toxic' or 'sex' or 'danger' are a good reminder to switch on your cognition and explore that idea more deeply, as this type of sensational language is common in fake news and misinformation campaigns.

4. Can We Emotionally Accept Our Belief Might Be Wrong? 

   Often it’s easier to find facts that fit into our worldview than adjust our worldview when we come up against new facts. It’s ok to change your mind. I've changed my mind on many topics throughout my career as I've learned new facts or perspectives.

5. Talk To People In Real Life

   2020 a lonely time. And loneliness kills. Call a friend. Zoom with your family. Chat to your neighbours over the fence. Find real people. Get off social media. PANDA (1300 726 306) and the Australian Breastfeeding Association (1800 686 268) are still taking calls.

6. Get Support With Your Big Emotions

   Being forced to wear a mask can trigger big emotions. Marion Rose writes beautifully about how this affects us emotionally in three ways:

   1. Having choice and autonomy.

   2. Being free to speak and express.

   3. Care, protection and safety.

Even if our beliefs aren’t intentionally malicious, they may still be harmful. I feel like I’ve been doing a crash-course in these topics during the past few months, and I’m sure I’m still making mistakes. But I will keep working on this because Black Lives still Matter, even after that black square has drifted off the end of your newsfeed.