Black Girl's Guide to Surviving Menopause

There is a growing ecosystem of people talking about menopause and aging. The Black Girl's Guide to Surviving Menopause sees ourselves as menopausal alchemists, doulas, cartographers, and advocates and has taken up an intentional role in ushering in intergenerational Black voices and narratives into the menopausal landscape.  

We see our intergenerational work, healing, and storytelling as an ethos. 

An ethos is "an element of argument and persuasion through which a speaker establishes their credibility and knowledge, as well as their good moral character".  

Ethos elements include: 

• Phronesis or the wisdom or intelligence you have
• Arete is the general moral virtue of your argument
• Eunoia is the goodwill you establish with the audience

BGG2SM ethos around intergenerational healing and storytelling is grounded in the belief that there is knowledge, wisdom, and expertise from the menopausal multiverse at every age, and if we create spaces for this energetic exchange through our stories and full-throated truths, we are transformed as individuals and healing across generations is possible. During this episode of the BGG2SM, we explore our relationship with our bodies across three decades and multiple identities as Black people with uteruses with Amber J. Phillips, Sonja Renee Taylor, and our host Omisade Burney-Scott.

Enjoy! 

Episode Notes:

Amber J. Phillips, @amberabundance

Amber J. Phillips is a storyteller, filmmaker, and creative director. She creates world-building narratives using warm visuals and vulnerable performances through her lens of being a fat Black queer femme auntie from the Midwest. Amber recently released her first short film, “Abundance” about the limitations and radical possibilities of identity.

Amber is the producer, writer, and performer of “Abundance” which was most recently a 2021 BlackStar Film Festival @blackstarfest selection and won the audience award for Best Short Narrative. Amber’s written and visual work imagines a world where Black womanhood is an abundant overwhelming experience of safety, pleasure, and joy. She is devoted to using radical Black imagination to create stories, art, culture, and community. You can experience more of Amber's work on Instagram and Twitter @AmberAbundance and at AmberAbundance.com

Sonya Renee Taylor,  @sonyareneetaylor

New York Times Best Selling author, award-winning performance poet, activist, and educator,  Sonya Renee Taylor, is the Founder and Radical Executive Officer of The Body is Not An Apology, a digital media, and education company committed to radical self-love and body empowerment as the foundational tool for social justice. Sonya has worked in numerous countries and on major media outlets around the world, reaching hundreds of thousands of people with her commitment to radical self-love and transformation.

Visit her at www.sonyareneetaylor.com or www.thebodyisnotanapology.com

References:

• Flower of Wands-Gentle Tarot, https://thegentletarot.com/
• Zane, https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Zane/269527
• Judy Blume, https://judyblume.com/judy-blume-books/
• “Say More” menopause and midlife discussion deck (BGG2SM listeners can use the code "OMI20" to get 20% off their "Say More" purchase at https://ourkindra.com/.  Check out our open source toolkit http://bit.ly/saymoretoolkit )

Learn more! www.blackgirlsguidetosurvivingmenopause.com

• Produced by Mariah M.
• Hosted by Omisade Burney-Scott
• Theme Music by Taj Cullen Scott

Season 4 of the podcast is sponsored by our local NPR station, WUNC, North Carolina Public Radio! www.wunc.org