In this episode, Kimberly Peeler-Allen joins us to discuss the importance of supporting the fight for diversity and equal rights in politics for the health and well-being of uterinekind.
The majority of vital processes that produce the everyday goods we consume are regulated by government federal agencies such as the FDA. To many, this brings peace of mind and confidence, but to anyone researching the world of regulating federal agencies, many unnerving secrets are revealed. When it comes to the regulation of processes, everything in our lives is affected including our food, beauty products, healthcare, and rights. So when the very basis of regulation and safety is being corrupted, what can we do? We need to get political more than ever to restore order for all.
Though the word 'political' may scare you, we promise it’s not that scary or hard to comprehend. You can always find an issue that speaks to you and that you can take action for. Our incredible guest shows you the importance of getting political for yourself and everyone else in your life to rebuild these broken systems that are fighting against us. In this episode, we dive deep with Kimberly Peeler-Allen into the importance of supporting and fighting for diversity in politics for the overall enrichment of our lives including the fight for equal rights and the impact it has on the health and well-being of uterinekind.
Lastly, we end on a high note! Winter is the best time for Hallmark movies and we have a great recommendation. Are you watching?
Thanks for listening, learning, and being you. And join us back here every Tuesday for all things uterus, in service to you, uterinekind.
Carol: Just because it's regulated doesn't mean it's not harmful, and this is why we have to get political. I'm Carol Johnson, and this is Hello Uterus.
We approach today's guest, Kimberly Peeler Allen because of her expertise on the battle to get the E R A published to the Constitution. What we got was a lot more than that in this conversation we recorded earlier, including the realization that if we don't get political and support those willing and capable of serving in an electric capacity, companies will continue to manufacture products that harm us and the planet.
Our interview and this episode's uterus in the news are tightly connected, but we didn't plan it that way. So now uterus in the news
buckle up kittens, published at the end of November, 2022, just a few weeks ago in the proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which is a peer-reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences. This publication of this paper is welcome, albeit terrifying news. Yes, phalates do cause fibroids.
Phalates are chemicals. They're used in hundreds of products, including plastic packaging and personal care products such as shampoos, soaps, hairsprays, lotions, makeup. People are exposed to phalates all the time by eating and drinking foods from packaging that contains them, using products that come in contact with our skin that contain phalates and from breathing in phalates particles circulating in the air.
So the US Environmental Protection Agency, the E P A estimates more than 470 million pounds of phalates are produced each year from an article about this study is this quote. Our study uniquely links environmental phthalate exposure to fibroid growth through stimulation of tryptophan metabolism. KININ production and a R activation.
This study identified M E H H P, which is mono two, ethyl five hydroxy hexcel, just all be like two gross disgusting chemical, five additional gross, disgusting chemical, , whatever. So anyway, the study identified M E H H P exposure as a high risk factor for fibroid growth, and described a previously unrecognized mechanism by which exposure to environmental phthalate impacts fibroid pathogenesis.
What that means is as, as we've talked about numerous times on this show, when you, when you find an unrecognized mechanism, It means it's not just that M E H H P is associated with the presence of fibroids, it's that there is an actual causal factor here. There is a mechanism by which exposure to the phalates impacts the fibroids.
We're inviting one of the study authors to talk to us about this study in detail and pressing the gas to make sure that we can do this quickly. But I can't emphasize this enough. And, and I mean it, we have to recognize that endocrine disrupting chemicals are harming us and it's up to us to keep ourselves safe from them, which is nearly impossible.
I, I recognize that. But we, we really have to get serious about this. And while, while we're looking at this data that's coming in, Pharma is probably looking at the development of drug candidates to try to impact the way in which phalates cause disease. But another option would be to ban the phalates, right?
Just ban 'em. Stop making stuff that's poison. And now, if you're expecting those who are supposed to regulate the food industry to actually regulate it, I've got some sunshine for you. That's not happening on December 8th. Just last week, an independent review of the FDA's handling of food safety claims found the F D A, in quotes lacks clear direction, has a fear of confronting the industry, flashing red light, flashing red light, flashing red light, and faces other challenges, which leaves the agency unable to adequately protect public health.
Let that sink in like a fate on your skin. This is remarkable. This is remarkable, a remarkable connecting of the dots. And we wouldn't be able to connect it without research, which is why we champion research. We lead with research. Whenever we have a question, we turn to research because that's where the real answers are coming from.
And if we don't go to the research to get it, then we might actually be getting information that's coming from the manufacturer's, air quotes, research, which is of course designed to support their agenda. So we promise to you forever and ever to go to the research and get the research in front of you in a way that is actionable.
Back to research. Another study found certain foods such as cheeseburgers and sandwiches bought at restaurants. Other fast food places or cafeterias seem to spur higher. pH levels. So eating out it's, it's not so much the burger, it's everything else around it from how the ingredients were processed, and then continue through to the packaging of it and the chemicals that are used in the packaging, and then the way the food is reheated in packaging or is cooked in environments that are flooded with chemicals, and it is really, really bad.
Also in the news that may not seem uterine related, but it absolutely is. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has a record of quid pro quos. In other words, you do this for me and I'll do this for. With a range of food manufacturers owns stock in ultra processed food companies and has received millions of dollars in contributions from producers of soda, candy, and processed foods linked to diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and other health problems.
These are companies like PepsiCo and Nestle, and they should be ashamed of themselves and we should shame them, which is not something that I take lightly. These findings are part of a recently published peer reviewed study that examined a trove of financial documents and internal communications obtained through a FOIA request, which is the Freedom of Information Act.
Gary Ruskin, who is the executive director of US Right to Know, is a co-author of this study and says, and I quote, it's incredibly influential, meaning the academy. So if the academy is corrupt, then nutritional policy in the US is going to be corrupt, and he's spot on. This investigation was conducted with researchers from nonprofits and universities in the US and the uk.
We will invite Gary Ruskin to. Come on. Hello, uterus, and talk to us about this. But can you see how the dots are connecting? You look at the conditions that have been associated with consuming lots of processed foods, diabetes, heart disease, obesity, right? Diabetes and heart disease and obesity are also associated with conditions like P C O S.
Many of you are probably like, of course this is going on. This is not news. We know corporations and the agencies regulating them often have a cozy relationship, but maybe all the dots we're connecting today between phalates and fibroids and endocrine disrupting chemicals and consumer products, the rise in hormonally dependent diseases, the drop in sperm counts.
Maybe connecting all of those dots will be enough for us all to find a. To bring pressure to our government and the company's poisoning us because that is exactly what they're doing. So here's a couple quick tips. Ditch everything with a chemical fragrance. Stop using plastic wrap. Don't store foods and liquids and plastic containers.
You can get those canning jars really inexpensively. We use them in our house for drinking, for storing stuff. Also buy loose food, fruits, vegetables, items, and bulk rather than in packaging. And here's something look for and avoid packages that have the recycling code. Seven or three. Seven means that it may contain B P A three means it contain P V C.
All of these are nasty chemicals that are produced by the petrochemical industry and they're all poisoning us. We will stay on top of this. It all just broke in the last week. This is significant news, significant research. And kudos to the team that followed through with the FOIA request to get those documents.
You should read the emails. They're ludicrous. We'll share on our social Instagram at Uterine Kind. If you're so inclined. Please go follow us. So after a quick break, be prepared to be able to take a breath of fresh air and to get inspired to take action by listening to Kimberly Peeler. Kimberly Peeler Allen joins us today to talk about the fight for equal rights and the impact that fight will have on the health and wellbeing of those born with the uterus.
Kimberly has forged a prolific career at this intersection that many of us probably wish to avoid because it sounds like one of the worst intersections ever. It's the intersection of race, gender, and politics. It's gonna be a great intersection once the intersection is cleaned up a little bit, and she's here to do that.
She is the co-founder of Higher Heights, the only national organization dedicated to building the political and leadership power of black women. She's currently a visiting practitioner at the Center for American Women in Politics at Rutgers University, where she serves as an advisor on their ongoing research and election analysis and guest lectures in various graduate and undergraduate courses.
You would be very fortunate to walk into a lecture hall and see Kimberly there. She also serves as a senior advisor to New York State Attorney General Leticia James, successful reelection campaign. Kimberly serves as board chair of the e r A coalition is a board member of Act Blue, the Fund for Women's Equity and Pro-Choice America.
Kimberly, thank you for being here today. I wanna first ask if you've paused to rest after what must have been a grueling midterm election season. Oh, thank you
Kimberly: so much for having me. Um, thrilled to be here. Um, No , you know, the, the work continues and, you know, coming out of the midterms, I think for those on the left, it was generally, you know, we didn't lose, uh, but I wouldn't say we exactly won either.
So that was, you know, one thing to process. And then, you know, looking at the performance of black women at the top of the ticket, looking at the key Senate races and gubernatorial races where black women were very high profile but were not successful, you know, really has continued the, the work. And there is a lot of lessons learned.
Uh, there were, you know, victories in those losses, but we've been spending a lot of time over the last three weeks. Processing and you know, thinking about what we learned in the midterms and how that can propel us forward going into 20 24, 20 26 and beyond.
Carol: I imagine that as the successes mount, so does the resistance.
is that what you're seeing?
Kimberly: Yes and no. Uh, when we first started Higher Heights, um, just over 10 years ago, there was a lot of resistance because there was just no understanding of what the case was, why women's leadership, why black women's leadership in particular really mattered and was important. And as we have made that case, using both analytical data and anecdotal stories of how representation matters at all decision tables, uh, all across this country, people have become more and more interested in what the possibilities actually are, the possibilities that exist out there, and understanding more about what we're missing when we don't have proper representation.
So, You run for higher office? Uh, there are definitely more challenges that come forward. We know in this climate across the board, the attacks, the online attacks, the in-person attacks on women and, and harassment on women candidates, particularly women of color, is through the roof. and has just begun to be really studied and thinking about policy changes to try and protect these women's right to actually run for office and be safe and their families and their staff to be safe.
I think it's an overall shift as we move away from the patriarchy, you know, the patriarchy will rebel and you know, that is, I think what we're seeing more and more. It is, I think there's still a case to be made around, you know, why representative leadership matters, but the overall shift of another historic congress in terms of the number of women who are serving, you know, growing, the number of women who are leading our top 100 cities overall, the, these are the things that, you know, change priorities.
And when you change priorities, you change budgets and you change resource allocation. And that at the end of the day, is what it is all about. It's about power and control over resources.
Carol: Power and control over resources and power and the fight that you're fighting to have that power and control be equally held and respected rather than weaponized.
You know, I just realized that in the introduction I mentioned that, that you sit at this intersection, right? And there's three words that I mentioned, race, gender, and politics. Like most of us would maybe pick one of those and say, okay, I can handle this. I'll take the gender one, you take the race one, you take the politics, and maybe we'll all live to see another day.
But I'm gonna add a fourth because intersections should have fourth, right? So I'm gonna add a fourth and, and make it even harder for you, health . Because when I look at race, gender, and politics, . I immediately, obviously given what I do, but I, I immediately think about health because it has been on that intersection that so many people have had their health and wellbeing rested from them.
And while we're not a political show, some people might be like, what does Kimberly have to do with the uterus? Well, , we, we may not like you can't not be political. I mean, it's, you have to be right.
Kimberly: Mm-hmm. 100%, you know. Often draw from Shirley Chisholm, so much of her career. Her sayings, her speeches are such an intersection and she said, um, and I'm doing a horrible paraphrase, but you know, something along the lines of she called them affliction.
Whether her of her two greatest afflictions being black and being a woman, being a woman was the far greater affliction than being black in America. And I've really channeled that and really have seen that women, you know, just in general have been marginalized or voices have been silenced. You know, things that, um, I just heard a story, uh, Listening to a, a podcast with my son about a scientist who in the, I guess probably the 18 hundreds actually had mapped the Atlantic Ocean floor.
And when she had described this, because she wasn't allowed to actually go out on the boats, but when she presented it, they dismissed it as women talk. because just by the nature of her gender. And so just and then, and then you know, they discovered, oh, actually she was right and she had all sorts of things that, you know, mapped in here that we didn't even know existed.
But just the automatic discounting of our value because we have a uterus. Is just absolutely infuriating. And then to have the added affliction, uh, to, to coin Shirley Chisholm of race on top of that, to be a black woman, you don't know what you're talking about. You're too aggressive. You know, you're out of your role, you're out of your place.
Who do you think you are? Is just added on top of that. And I can't get away from that existence. That is how I wake up every morning and how I go to sleep every night. And I know, and I see how it impacts every aspect of my life, every aspect of my children's lives, of my community, and how devaluing and frankly, what a lawsuit is.
our nation overall, and frankly the world when women, black women in particular, are not given the opportunity to stand in their power and bring all of their gifts to the world, you know? Yes. You know, I would love to be able to dissect and divert my life and only be able to fo, you know, focus on one, but they are also interconnected that you can't get away from it.
From my bodily autonomy to the research that is done for just basic medication, there's been a lot of conversation around this latest covid vaccine and whether or not they had enough African Americans and particularly African American women in the testing sample to really prove its efficacy against the latest version of this virus.
This is something that is so critically important to be able to name and work towards equity. Just so we get the results that we all want, and there's no one size fits all. It is only, you know, when we're able to really pull in all aspects of American life that we're able to get the overall outcomes.
You know, not even getting into, actually, you know, all of the ways that medical science does not factor in the fact that women's bodies work differently than men. There is just this standard that is, you know, still based on a white male body. That cannot be taken across the board. I mean, you, you know, think about when you have heart issues and you're on drugs like Coumadin and you have to go every week, uh, to, to fine tune it because they recognize that every single person responds to the medication differently.
And the only way they get that right check is if they check all the time, regardless of man or woman. So why can't we have the same attention to detail for medicine overall, the health practice overall, uh, and really in our medical schools, think about cultural competent healthcare. That takes into consideration the fact that all of these things do affect people differently.
And I think part of that is also regulating and not pretending like, oh, everything is the same. So the ACA was a great bill cuz it moved us forward significantly. But there were, you know, aspects of that that did not. Help women. There are aspects of that that did not help women of color because it just did not take into consideration, frankly, the anatomical differences between men and women in the decisions and, and the policies that were made.
Carol: Oh, absolutely. I mean the, the Affordable Care Act, it's wonderful to have, unless you're one of the people who live in half of the counties in the United States that don't even have a gynecologist, right? So you get this fantasy, this illusion that you have care, but oh, you're gonna have to take a day off of work, and then you're gonna have to travel for two hours in each direction.
And how do you manage that? That's what you're getting at, which is this. It's like if you try to stretch the male brain into a conversation that is inclusive of gender and race. That it just gets mm-hmm. , frazzled. Mm-hmm. . And, uh, I'm gonna give a non-health example of this that I always think about, which is like when Uber was being cracked at some cocktail table, in some private club somewhere in San Francisco, and I'm sure there were a bunch of guys at the table, because if there was one woman at the table, they would've said, how are you gonna protect these people from predators?
Like, nobody thought about that. You can kinda look at the petrochemical industry. If there were many women around those boardroom tables, I believe there would be greater care and thought about the planet and about the people. on the planet and how these chemicals that they know are dangerous because they're hiding their, their presence in products or they're renaming them, you know, vegan leather
I mean, it's, it's plastic. Let's call it what it is. It's like if we had more people who had this more empathic, compassionate view, that we would have greater progress. And when I learn about people like you, Kimberly, and the work that you're doing, I recognize that it's kind of silly and simple to say more empathic and compassionate.
Because what it actually requires is like fight and grit and labor and you know, it's a battle. And that makes me think like, okay, great. So we're adding more stress. , you know, we're adding more challenges for the body and I often think about things like the maternal mortality rate for people of color and the high incidence of hormonal disorders.
Mm-hmm. in people of color that lead to things like P C O S. And there's actually, there's a, a wonderful researcher who we had on Dr. Mahoen Gaia from Harvard and Mass Gen, who's researching the environmental impact on the endocrine system and our hormones. And so we think about that from the perspective of like, oh, what products am I putting on my body?
Or am I taking hormonal birth control? But we also need to think about it in terms of the day-to-day living conditions. that people are forced to exist in that are highly stressful mm-hmm. and that cause significant negative impact to their health. Mm-hmm. . And for the dudes that don't listen to this podcast, I'll say, there is a financial hit here.
These conditions bleed billions of dollars from our economy. So if, if that's your hot button, you know, and I get it, it's important, but that's your hot button. It's there. If we pay attention to these things, we can have a more efficient and robust economy, including keeping women and women of color in.
The workforce. So little bit of a soapbox there. But what I feel like is happening with your work in balancing representation in our political bodies, in and including women of color, is that we are gonna de-stress stuff. So while it feels very stressful because you mentioned, you know, the patriarchies unwillingness to die, a graceful death that, you know, eventually it's gonna happen.
And so all of these people are working to sort of de-stress. Very intense environment and I feel that that's going to have a positive impact on our health and wellbeing. To that end, what have the conversations been like with the people who are coming into office now or who have come in in the last few years, specific to healthcare and the inequality in terms of access for women of color throughout this country?
Well, I think there
Kimberly: has been, you know, a lot of conversation in this space, primarily just by nature of when you have diverse life experiences around decision making. Tables different, you know, different experiences are highlighted. Thinking about people like Lauren Underwood from Illinois and Alma Adams from North Carolina, who launched a black maternal mortality working group in Congress.
Because Lauren is a former nurse and Alma has also has a healthcare background and they know this. From, you know, their previous experiences and being able to bring that experience to the table has put a spotlight on the issue that it didn't previously have. I mean, there was, you know, a lot of discussion among black healthcare providers, black women overall, or it was, you know, something that was whispered about of the number of women who have had miscarriages, the number of black women who have had problems conceiving and have had fertility issues.
These were things that were not necessarily spoken about openly among black women. Uh, sometimes among their peers, but definitely not generally generationally. Uh, and having a congressional task force bring that forward, opened up that conversation where I heard, you know, time and time again from people who were saying, oh, you know, I never knew that.
My mother had a miscarriage before she had me, or after she had me, or you know, I had an aunt who, you know, was never able to conceive or had challenges or people are talking more and more about, you know, the challenges that they're having during childbirth and the fights, and thinking about people like Serena Williams who told her story very boldly and bravely.
You know, that if someone has high profile and. Assuming the best insurance there that money can possibly buy. And she had to fight with her doctors basically to save her life, uh, when she was delivering her daughter. You know, the, these are the, the stories that need to be brought forward. And I think, um, having that representation is critically, critically important.
I often point to a friend of mine here in New York, Vanessa Gibson, who is now the Bronx Borough President, but she was in the New York State Assembly and at, when she was in the assembly, she had friends and family members who suffered with lupus. And she said, the state needs to allocate resources for lu lupus research, lupus support, and lupus treatment.
And through her position in the New York State Assembly, with the backing of her colleagues, she was able to get those resources and be able to. Provides support and information that had never been done before because she was like, if I don't do this while I'm here, nobody else is going to do it. And the, you know, lupus is cons, A lot of people just kind of write it off of like, oh, that's, you know, something that black women have and nobody really understands it.
And you know, you have to get on steroids and it makes you fatten, but they don't really understand the pain and the, the long-term effects of this horrible, horrible disease. But because, Vanessa was in the assembly at the time that she was in the assembly, she was able to move those dollars. And you know, that has impacted thousands and thousands of New York women who suffer with that disease.
So, and it's just, you know, representation matters and the experiences that people bring. And I've had conversations with, uh, members of Congress who have said, you know what? I got here and I don't know how long I'm going to be here, but I'm gonna take advantage of this opportunity and try and move as much as I can for my people as possible.
Uh, whether that is a woman who was a breast cancer survivor and she said, you know, how much work has been done? You know, thinking about how black women are afflicted by breast cancer and the treatments they're in, and accessibility, et cetera. Let me. Do some work there. Let me lean in highlighting the fact, you know, you the just shocking, shocking fact about the number of gynecologists in the country.
Thinking beyond just half the counties don't have a gynecologist. So why is that? What is happening in our medical schools that people are not going into gynecology? Folks are are looking at that. So, you know, the supply as well as the access. Uh, and then I think now that we're in this post row space of just having, you know, the countless stories I was reading some last night of the access to abortion care and the many, many, many miles that women have to travel to get the care that they need and the expense beyond what many of them can actually afford.
You know, these are the things that I think are not necessarily taken into consideration by those without uteruses, because it's not their, it's not their existence. You know, just even thinking like, you know, the period tax, you know, why is it that tampons and maxi pads have attacks on them? Yeah. What?
Like that is essential. That's essential.
Carol: Right. I, I wanna say like, like, could you just cough up why you're so angry at us? Like, just let us know what, what did we do? There's studies that show that things from, you know, dry cleaning to whatever. Everything is more expensive. It's just all the way around you.
You really can, it's important that we have really good boundaries because we can bleed out a lot of energy thinking about this stuff. I mean, as you're talking, I, it's a slippery slope. , it really is. Like, I often have said like, we could do eight hours, you know, we'd have to order in food, but like, I wanna one day.
I wanna just follow that slope and, and see where it ends. Because connecting the dots is so important, right? Like we joke about the Uber example, but that example is applicable in what you just described. If you don't have people at the table in our bodies, whether it's at the local level, state level, federal level, if you don't have people at the table who have experiences that represent your experiences, you are not at the table
And then, so then you wonder, oh gee, why? How come they didn't think to study Ambien in women? I mean, like who would not, who would not do that? Or the, I forget the person's name, thank goodness, who suggested that you could swallow a camera and it would end up in your uterus. Like how did you get to be? Did you know?
Did you hear that? No, I have not
Kimberly: heard that insanity.
Carol: Yeah, I'll find the clip and send it to you. I mean, it is you, when you listen to it, you'll probably listen to it five times and it is remarkable. It was on the floor in Congress, although it could have been at at state level. I don't know if it was in dc.
I think it might have been in Utah, perhaps, and I'll find the person's name. But he was talking about how, you know, you can swallow. A camera to look through your intestines. So he's like, can you do that with the uterus? Cuz it was a conversation around trying to determine, I think if they were pregnant or something.
I, I mean, just insane. Like, I, I'm too old to run for office, but there was a period of time where I wish I had done it. And I'm sure like people are like, their age doesn't matter, but it's in my own head. I know, I know. You're sitting there going, you're not too old. It's, I'm probably not, I'm probably too unmanageable because I would, if someone said that in front of me, I would leap across the floor and, and grab him by the shoulders and be like, you are joking.
Right? Like, I wouldn't be able to control myself, so I'm not, I'm not the right person for that environment. But when we think about the repeal of Roe, that's another example of how either no one thought about the cascade of problems that would result from that, or they didn't care enough to think about it.
I, I don't even think they actually. Thought about it because if they did, that would suggest empathy to consider. What I feel is a potential outcome if we don't codify ROE is that we lose our funding for research on the female system. And you know, there's so much that we're just learning right now that we're just learning about the uterus, about the uterus connection.
Mm-hmm. with the brain and, and about our hormonal system and mm-hmm. and the, these next 10 years from a technology perspective in healthcare could be wild. We could change the trajectory of humans in terms of our. Advancements in healthcare, but not if we are stupid about it, , and we only focus on the white male body.
You know, like we talked all the time about like this lack of curiosity about the female system. And, and that gets kind of like gets back to the idea of like, what, what did we do ? Mm-hmm. , like how did that become a thing? Because I would think it would've been kind of normal to be like, wow, let's learn about this system that actually, you know, changes monthly and, and can produce other humans.
And it was just like, no, we're not gonna do that. Yeah. I
Kimberly: mean I think it all goes back to, you know, the fact that we are. A puritanical society. Yep. And sex in general is, there's still a lot of stigma. There's a lot of discomfort around talking about sex and bodies and private parts, and it's just best if you just don't know because it just inaccurate Ill-conceived concept of like, if you talk about anatomy, then it's going to make everybody go and have sex right now, and it's gonna be Sodom and Gomorrah all over the.
No .
Not
Kimberly: even close. Not even close. And um, I think it is that fear and this, you know, unfortunate puritanical history that we have in this country that anything. , you know, below the neck is like, is a problem and you know, so we don't want to dig in and saw, uh, it was meant to be satirical, but it was really just sad.
A woman on the street was interviewing men and asking them, you know, kind of very basic biological questions about women, their uteruses, their menses, and how many holes they have. Um, . And
Carol: they were clueless. Yes. Complete. I saw that Clueless. Isn't that shocking?
Kimberly: Unfortunately it is, and I don't say this to to trivialize it or or to minimize, but it's similar to the questioning man on the street of like, who's the president of the United States?
Who is your member of Congress? You know, how many Supreme Court justices do we have? What is the preamble of the constitution? There is so much that we don't value so much information about what many consider just kind of like basics of civic participation, basics of anatomy and human existence, basics about how the world works that people are ignorant to, that lead us down this road of not understanding what actually happens during a miscarriage.
What actually happens when, you know, not even getting into the economic impact of a woman who's not able to control her own fertility. But you know, how does this work? No, you cannot. Swallow a camera and look into a uterus, that that is not how, that, that is not how the body is made. Do have you, can you draw a picture of a uterus?
Carol: No. Right. I always say like, they couldn't pick a uterus out of an organ lineup. No. Like, you could put the brain and the uterus next to each other. And I, I think that they would be challenged to decide which is which. Great.
Kimberly: You know, and so it's just these like basic things that lead to just a snowball effect of mis and disinformation and bad decision making because of the lack of information.
It just, ill-informed and from like, the conversations around, you know, books that should be in school, like there's just, it's, it is all interconnected and sad and frustrating. How much we don't know and how much we're, we as a society are okay with not knowing. .
Carol: Yeah. The willful ignorance. Yeah. Yeah. It's so true.
I, I, I wish that there was a way, you know how we have like perfume or something you can put on a scent and it kind of takes you back in time to a place. I wish that there was a way to do that with experiences, like those aha moments you have when you're a kid. Like, I remember when my, my son for the first time figured out what air quotes were.
He was so freaked out. He was so excited. He was in the backseat of the car and he's like, mom. I'm like, what? He's like, I just figured out what. What this means. And he did the bunny ears. And I was like, what? And he goes, air quotes, you know, quotation marks. And I was like, what did you think it meant? He said, bunny ears.
Like, so he thought , every time someone did this, they were pretending to be a bunny for some disconnected reason and or the, you know, he couldn't connect the reason. And then when he connected that reason, as silly as that little example, is the aha moment in him, like he glowed. And if we could tap back into that it, I experience it all the time.
I'm not a clinician. This is not easy for me to dive in and understand things like P C O S. These are complicated conditions. But when I do. , I've recognized I have a better relationship with my body now, which has been a really, really big turning point. We could really go down a slope on that. Having not living only in your head, so inhabiting your full body, kind of knowing what it, like, what it looks like on the inside, so that when you're feeling, you know, some pain or stress or anxiety, you can kind of calm it down.
But then also just the power of being in your body. We have an upcoming interview with a woman named Michelle Brower. Do you know Michelle Brower? No, she is amazing. She is down in Montgomery, Alabama, and she created a sculpture called The Mothers of Gynecology, and it was in response to the father of Gynecology, who's also called Father Butcher, which is Sims.
She actually bought the building that he inhabited in Montgomery and she's opening up a healthcare clinic. She's amazing. I think I heard about
Kimberly: this. I think I did hear about this. Yeah.
Carol: Like what made me think about that is the sculptures of the three women that he abused and tortured, they're welded sculptures.
She's a welder and a singer and like I 52,000 other talents that she has. But when you look at those sculptures, the details, you know, the little, little details like just pieces of bicycle chain or little figures and, and every one of those little details. Matters. And it's kind of like how I feel about our bodies that, you know, whether it's our experiences or it is the literal structural formation of our body.
Like those details matter. And so perhaps by having a stronger relationship with your physical body and having more body literacy, understanding your anatomy, it doesn't mean you have to do a total deep dive on it. You don't have to like understand, you know, how things are synthesized in the body or whatever.
But just a basic understanding, I really do believe it results in feeling more powerful, feeling more in control, having greater respect for the body, being able to just simply breathe better because you understand where your diaphragm is and so you're aware of how that needs to be part of your breath process.
You know, those are are things that do really tie back to where we began, which was that women are dismissed. in our society. Mm-hmm. . And so our bodies are dismissed unless they're having sex or they're reproducing one in of the same, I don't know, , I dunno. Something along those lines. Oh man. It is just, it's intense.
But before having this interview, I was thinking about like, I feel like I want to be able to easily hope and believe in the future. This is a spoiler alert. I totally feel it. Just talking to you for 30 minutes. Now that we've been talking, I am like buzzing inside. Because what you're saying is you just have to show up.
You don't have to be perfect. In fact, if you're imperfect, it's better because it's your experiences of being an imperfect human that are going to affect how. Restructure our society and build a more inclusive and loving and compassionate society. And that that is just, whew. Thank you. Goodness. You are, you've got some power, man.
I'm done. It is just, just coming over the, you know, the waves here. It's just amazing. So I have a couple other questions and I wanna make sure before mm-hmm. , before you have to go, are we positioned to codify Roe? Are we going to get that to happen? And in the same response, cuz it, it doesn't end there.
Will the equal Rights Amendment finally be published to the Constitution?
Kimberly: Uh, two very, uh, weighty questions. I think in the short term, this incoming Congress, it is. Very unlikely that we will cod a fire row. I think, you know, with the 51st seat in the Senate, that's great, but it has to pass both houses and we know that it won't, we won't be able to get it through the house right now.
So Wipa, the Women's Health Protection Act is, you know, something that has been uplifted, God, probably the last 10, 10 years at least. And we haven't been able to get that passed, which is just mind blowing and frustrating. And I think, you know, if we couldn't get it passed in the house, we're definitely not gonna be able to move it in the center.
I mean, and we're not gonna get it, be able to move it in the house in this coming Congress. So there's that. The e r a, uh, I think we have unfortunately, just, you know, I think Congress is in session through middle of next week. There have been a lot of conversations, uh, with Senate leadership, the. Bill to lift the time limit has passed the house twice and it was being held at the desk in the Senate.
It would require a filibuster proof vote, which we don't have to move forward. There is the possibility that the archivist could set aside, you know, because we do have the all 38 states could go ahead and codify and publish it in the Constitution at the direction of the President. The President, the White House, has not indicated a willingness to do so at this point.
The incoming archivist has said that she will not, um, Undue precedent and the precedent is that they, you know, don't act on their own. So it is not hopeful at the federal level for both of those pieces. But what we have seen, particularly with the Equal Rights Amendment, is that there is a movement within the states to not just reaffirm for those states that ratified it over the last, you know, 50 years, but to actually expand.
Uh, we know that the original 26 words are limiting, particularly by today's standards. Uh, but there's definitely a strong movement afoot, particularly in states that had previously ratified it to expand, uh, the Equal Rights Amendment. So it is, you know, more explicit talking about gender expression, you know, sexual orientation and gender expression, and other ways that.
The original language did not. You know, so many of the conversations that I've had with people over the years about the era r a, is like, well, can't we just update the language to include gender instead of sex? It's like, well, if we, if we change one word, we have to go back and do all 38 states again. So it's not just a matter of like, oh, let's update the language.
But I think because of that, there is opportunity. And unfortunately, you know, similar to what we're seeing in at the state level where states are codifying abortion access in their state constitutions, we're seeing the same thing with the e r A. So you're going to find states like California and Illinois that have cod.
These things, these protections, and have codified equality in their state constitutions. And we'll find states that have Florida and Georgia and, and others that have done the, you know, exact opposite, that have really allowed inequality in their constitution. It is super challenging. Well, you know, as, as time goes on and we think about places where we live, I know, you know, thinking of my daughter who is a freshman in high school now, but thinking about, you know, where she applies to college.
and should she need abortion care Right. In a particular state, would she be able to get it? I mean, she will, you know, we live in New York and, um, New York is, is good, but not great. You know, as my friends who are abortion providers, uh, in state, tell me she would have access because she would always be able to come home.
But should she need to do something quickly, you know, she's gotta think about the state that she's going
Carol: to school in. Absolutely. And then also, um, you know, is there retaliation, right? Like you're an outspoken woman on a college campus and then it comes out that you left the state to go get an abortion, and then you come back to that college campus.
What kind of retaliation are you? Deal with. I don't wanna end on a sad note, but I, I wanna kind of get at the bottom of, or ask this sort of like, basic question around what I feel like is obstruction of the e r a. So is it, is it just simply like, no way are we gonna let those, you know, those chicks have the same that we have, right?
Is it that simple? That, that it's like, no, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and all of that was designed for us and it's not designed for you, so cut it out, just don't make a fuss. Is there a legitimate reason that they're bringing forward as to why this is not an absolute slam dunk?
Kimberly: The opposition to it in the seventies, you know, yes, Phyllis Schlafly was the face of the opposition, but you know, frankly, she was being funded by insurance companies that didn't wanna redo their, um, actuary tables and how that would change their bottom line.
We talk a a lot when the ACA was passed, that being pregnant was no longer a preexisting health condition. It is just part of humanity. All of that reframing gynecological hair and all of the. Pieces that need to, that spin off of that are, you know, because of the ACA are no longer considered specialists, thankfully.
Right. But I think it comes down, a lot of it comes down to economics. And I think at some point where we are right now, there is, you know, some of the conversations that we've had with members of Congress, they are concerned about the trans issue. What does this mean for the rights of trans people? And I don't agree.
That trans people, you know, are a thing or should exist or should have equality and, and equal rights. Uh, so they get hung up on that. Thinking about the e r A and oh, does that mean that it automatically codifies roe? It does not. It at this point. It would have to go through the courts and, you know, these, the era r a is the floor of the start of the conversation of what equality looks like.
And I think a lot of it is the fear of having to redistribute power, redistribute resources. And I, I think like saying, you know, from the top line of like, oh, you know, we don't want women to have rights. No one would say that, but it is the implic, you know, what, what the effects of creating an equal future.
and how that impacts people's bottom line, corporation's, bottom line, power structure, bottom line, all of these things. That is what the biggest challenge is, and I think it's an oversimplification to say, oh, we don't want women to have equal rights. A lot of women on the right who say, you know, I just wanna be the best senator.
I don't need, I just wanna be the best leader, or I don't want it to be tied to my race. I think frankly, they feel that by leaning into the totality of their experience, that they would be alienating because they know that this is a patriarchal society. So if you don't bring attention to the, the way that you are different from the boys, that you won't be penalized for it.
So I think citing equality. You know, what equality truly means would be a huge tectonic shift in this country. I think it's the state of Arizona. They went through all of their statutes to bring in gender neutral language, and it ended up being like a 4,000 page document with all of the changes that needed to be made.
And then, you know, all of the, the threads of like, okay, so actually now that we're looking at this, we need to, you know, change this particular law about land succession business ownership. Just like the, you know, the snowball effect of actually creating this. I think there's, you know, a lack of will and will to do the work, to spend the resources to actually.
implement all of these things, and I think that is what is pushing it as well as folks being concerned about, you know, the social issues, you know, the rights of L G B T Q people, full, comprehensive reproductive healthcare also get hung up on this conversation and, and why the e r A has not been cod.
Carol: Yeah, the way that you walked us through that, I see all of their off-ramps, like how they can ensure that people that are, are not living this right now.
So somebody, you know, a cis white woman or man, How easy it would be in a 15 minute conversation with that person to say, Hey, look, you know, people generally have equal rights. If we were gonna actually go and do this, do you have any idea of what that would mean and how much it would cost, and blah, blah, blah.
And what we really just need to do is just make sure we treat everybody equally and we'll all be fine. Exactly. But it, yeah, it's just exactly, it's remark. How it can't be simple, how it can't be, I mean, it's not remarkable. It's totally understandable. It's how the system was built. It, it, it's, it's actually super, super clear that yeah, it's a system built to protect what has now become, I guess, on the edge of minority population, right?
Mm-hmm. , and, and it's reminds me of, we had this very aggressive alpha male dog, a Rhodesian Ridgeback. He was super aggressive. He was 14 and he really, he needed to go, he couldn't walk anymore. The vet would make house calls for him throughout his life because he had been in an accident, had a bad experience with a vet and was PSD on it.
So she would come to the house to treat him because if you took him near a, a vet clinic, he would lose his mind. And she explained, we called her and we were like, Dr. Johnson, I think it's time. She said, okay, well you guys are gonna have to do it. And we were like, what? And she said, oh yeah, you know, maybe I should have told you this sooner, but I can't do it because it's his last, this will be his last fight.
Mm. And it will be very, very bad for him to experience that, to have to go through that stress. But as soon as he smells me, he's gonna know and he's gonna go berserk. That never left my thought. You know, like, and I noticed it in my own world when I've been in a situation, I used to work in sports media, right?
So cuz it's patriarchal as it comes. It's like the game of patriarchy, right in the N F L and in in places like that. And I used, and I remember like the feeling I'd have inside having to confront someone on something and it would just be too terrifying. . I'm like, no, you know what? Not worth it. Something inside of me says, I don't wanna die doing this.
And now that I'm older, , I recognize like I will live through that and it has to be done. So we have to step up. And you've today have made, you've simplified what we can all do, which is to just bring our individual experiences to the table. And in that, people talk about things like imposter syndrome and stuff like that.
And that just kind of ignites that because mm-hmm. , because it says, no, no, that, that's not even on the table for you because it is who you are authentically that we need. Thank you. Thank you for being on the planet. Thank you for being willing to stand in the middle of that intersection, which is like equal parts thrilling and terrifying.
And what you are doing by bringing these people into politics, you're actually also, from my perspective, you're changing the way politics is viewed. So it's kind of like going from. Top down hierarchical structure to something that is more like healthcare in a way, what healthcare should be, right? You're caring for humanity.
Mm-hmm. So it's not government, it's actually like political healthcare, , you know, caring for all citizens and for all humans. And you are doing this, you are literally creating a better world every day. So thank you for spending time with us today, and it's just been an absolute honor to meet you. Oh, you're
Kimberly: so kind.
Thank you. Thank you. No, it was my pleasure. It was my pleasure to be
Carol: on. Excellent. I hope there are times for us to speak again in the future when, when there are some successes to celebrate and, um, we're gonna keep following you. And actually, to that end, what is the best way for people to connect with you online and to follow what you're doing?
Um,
Kimberly: so you can follow me on LinkedIn. Uh, my name Kimberly Peeler Allen on Twitter. I don't know how long I'll be there, but I'm there. Um, Kimber, P k i m b e r p underscore a and my website. Which is peeler allen.com.
Carol: Excellent. And we'll put all of these in our post on at Uterine Kind on Instagram. And we just wanna thank again Kimberly Peeler Allen for being with us today.
My pleasure. We'll be right back with ending on a high note
that's inspiration to like the 10th power. Just incredible. No matter what our age or how we feel about whether or not we're capable of taking on a role, our individual experiences really matter and, and we need to bring 'em to the table so that the laws of the land reflect the actual individuals who live on the land and not just, you know, cis white men,
And so it's kind of hilarious to end on a high note cuz not, I mean, I don't know if Brian Berry is a cis white man or not, but Brian Rebury. At least from the article seems to identify as a man, and he was not too old either. And I just, I love this, just like really says, you know, forget about the labels, forget about the conditioning, forget about the things that you've been told you can and can't do because anything is possible.
You can even be a dude writing a romantic holiday romcom. That's redundant for a lifetime. At the age of 66, you can make that happen. Brian Berry is finally having his moment. He is 66 years old, a former PR agent, and he started writing television scripts 40 years ago. , it is so hard to break into tv, but he recently sold his first one.
He ended up like deciding that he, you know, loved writing scripts. Brian was persistent and he must have believed in himself because if he didn't believe in himself, this could have never happened. In 2019, inspired by an article he read about Hallmark and Lifetime Christmas movies, Ru decide to write a script and he says, is putting the comedy back in romantic comedy?
And that script was purchased by UP tv, which I've never heard of, but sounds kind of inspirational. , but I'm not gonna judge until I see it. That script was called the Attraction Test and that. To his second script, which is hilariously titled Single and Ready to Jingle . How so? If I wrote that, I would be like, this is never gonna get sold, because this title is so cheesy.
And then of course, you know it gets sold, right? So Lifetime bought it. The movie premiered this past weekend here he reads an article eons ago about writing scripts, romantic holiday movies for Lifetime. And he ultimately makes it happen. So premiered this past weekend and you gotta check it out. I'm gonna check it out.
And I gotta be honest, I have never ever watched a single holiday, like freshly written holiday romcom. That's been on Lifetime ever, but I'm gonna go watch Single and Ready to Jingle because I love this guy's story. He said it was a long time coming, but it was worth the wait. Of course, it was worth the wait and his persistence.
I highly respect, so it's never too late. Kids. It is never too late. It's never too late to run for office. It's never too late to rid your spaces of fallates. It's never too late to write that script, write that book. Life contains all the possibilities. So even though sometimes the information that we cover can be intense, um, I think it's better to be in the know and then be able to, to put your hand up and say, I'm not gonna take that anymore.
Have really good, healthy boundaries and that frees you up to be able to follow your dreams and create amazing things. So I'm definitely going to learn both from Kimberly Peeler Allen and from Brian Rubie about taking chances and, you know, and recognizing that even though politics can be ugly, it actually is the foundation from which everything that we experience living in the United States and living on this planet is impacted.
So we really do need to support women of color, people from. Marginalized communities so that they can be positioned to run and be elected to office because it is the only way that we are gonna clean up things like the F D A, not being in a position to actually regulate our food and drugs. So thank you for joining us this week, and thank you to Angel and Maryelle and the team at Uterine Kind.
We have wrapped our prep for the launch of you by Uterine Kind after some date shifting. The app officially launches on January 3rd, which is perfect. It's the perfect date for it to officially launch. We're excited, exhausted, and determined to make a difference in your health and wellbeing. It's gonna take all of us to push back against the industries that clearly don't care about our health.
We're not going anywhere. We are gonna do a lot of pushing. So come back next week. We've got amazing guests lined up and exciting announcements in the run up to the official launch of you by Uterine Kind, an app that will improve your experience with your overall uterine healthcare. Till then be well, be cool, be kind.
Angel: The Hello Uterus podcast is for informational use only. The content shared here is not used to diagnose or treat any medical condition. Please ask your physician about your health and call 9 1 1 if it's an emergency. And thank you uterine kind for listening.