#aspen baker

[statecfdreaming]

aspen baker has one good outfit and doesn’t know how to act when they’re in it.

[journolist]

A better way to talk about abortion

Abortion is extremely common. In America, for example, one in three women will have an abortion in their lifetime, yet the strong emotions sparked by the topic — and the highly politicized rhetoric around it — leave little room for thoughtful, open debate. In this personal, thoughtful talk, Aspen Baker makes the case for being neither “pro-life” nor “pro-choice” but rather "pro-voice" — and for the roles that listening and storytelling can play when it comes to discussing difficult topics.

[hannahjmaka]

So, let's talk about listening and how to be a good listener. There's lots of ways to be a good listener and I'm going to give you just a couple. One is to ask open-ended questions. You can ask yourself or someone that you know, 'How are you feeling?' 'What was that like?' 'What do you hope for, now?' Another way to be a good listener is to use reflective language. If someone is talking about their own personal experience, use the words that they use. If someone is talking about an abortion and they say the word 'baby,' you can say 'baby.' If they say 'fetus,' you can say 'fetus.' If someone describes themselves as gender queer to you, you can say 'gender queer.' If someone kind of looks like a he, but they say they're a she -- it's cool. Call that person a she. When we reflect the language of the person who is sharing their own story, we are conveying that we are interested in understanding who they are and what they're going through. The same way that we hope people are interested in knowing us.

Aspen Baker: A Better Way to Talk About Abortion (TEDWomen 2015)

[thisisadecisionimayregret]

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5Mpo4JQZhw)

This video is really interesting, and raises important questions on how we understand and communicate with others, and how topics, such as abortion, can easily polarize groups into “you’re either for or against us” and why it shouldn’t be that way. (A side note - this video is less about abortion than it is about communication, listening, and storytelling; abortion is used as the chief example).

I love the message that this sends - it’s not about agreement or disagreement with other people, or about fighting. It’s about accepting differences between people, and how we are unique. Really a great watch. 

[finalflinguk]

Talking about life and death: abortion

Talking about life and death: abortion

L Aspen Baker, ProVoice TED talk

Listening to Aspen Baker’s TED talk about abortion has shed new light on my thinking about talking about life and death.

I was a little shocked at the realisation that I haven’t touched on abortion in all my considerations of life and death issues.

As a life and death topic, and a taboo of a sort all of its own, it’s a doozy.

Listening to Aspen’s TED talk podcast,…

View On WordPress

[alifemovingforward]

No matter your politics…this is a very enlightening and progressive piece of journalism.