Trixie Films

🇨🇦 Near Belleville? Grab some popcorn and meet me on Feb 24th at Belleville Downtown DocFest - International Documentary Film Festival to catch my documentary My So-Called Selfish Life and the post-film Q&A.

Tix and info: https://www.downtowndocfest.ca/2024/02/03/my-so-called-selfish-life/

🌟 Smart and irreverent, My So-Called Selfish Life examines what it means to say no to motherhood in a society that assumes all women want children.

So glad I could contribute to this moving and timely article. At events for My So-Called Selfish Life I often get questions from folks whose kids aren't having kids. They talk about reconciling their loving support for their kids' life decisions with their sadness at not becoming grandparents.

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FROM THE ARTICLE:
There are parallels between grieving not-to-be grandparents, and others who wanted children when they were younger but couldn’t have them, according to Toronto filmmaker Therese Shechter, whose documentary My So-Called Selfish Life mines the cultural resistance toward women who choose not to become mothers.
“People have an identity in their mind for themselves which is not going to happen,” she said. “So what does the rest of their life look like? And what can they do to make the rest of their life meaningful, without children?”
“There’s a lot of estrangement – a lot of people who don’t want to go to their family holidays because they just can’t deal with the abuses heaped on them because of the choices they’ve made,” the filmmaker said. “Sometimes the pressure really borders on cruelty: ‘You owe me grandchildren.’”
To which she retorts: “No one owes anyone a baby.”
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A great piece by Zosia Bielski for the The Globe and Mail Brava to Ziny Kirshenbaum for being so honest and thoughtful (love seeing you on the front page of the Globe!) And I'm in such good company in this article with the added wisdom of Childfree Blog Laura Carroll, and Nicole Louie.

Thank you Andrea for letting me off the hook by giving our parents two awesome grandsons.

Baby boomers are adjusting to a new retirement normal: No grandchildren A pandemic ‘baby bust’ and declining birthrates have left many boomers to make peace with a life they had not considered

Toronto folks! I am here to RAVE about my friend .rachel.cairns and her solo play "Hypothetical Baby" which I saw last night.

So funny, so moving, so beautifully done - truly a special experience. (Extra shout-out to director Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster)

Playing until Sunday only. If you are in Toronto DO NOT MISS IT! Tickets at: https://tarragontheatre.com

"From the creator of the award-winning “Aborsh” podcast: “An unintended pregnancy, followed by an unhelpful doctor's appointment, leads to a Christmas Eve abortion and one woman’s reckoning with the practical and existential considerations in deciding to become a parent… or not.”

 
 
 

I think this is my favorite podcast interview...ever... because and I talk about how the documentary was made. Conversations about this film are always about the issues in it. Important of course, but it's a joy to talk about the craft of doc making for a change. Thanks Brandi for inviting me!

LISTEN at the link in
Bio

Our latest newsletter. We can't shut up about Pronatalism! 📢

We're on Polish TV + 9 Ways to Talk About Reproductive Freedom Welcome back and happy Fall! This newsletter is positively brimming with past and future conversations that center reproductive freedom and the lives of people without children. It makes me ridiculously happy to see these conversations pop up everywhere from Personal Finance podcasts to Animal Justi...

🇵🇱 TONIGHT - OUR POLAND TV PREMIERE! I'm grateful for the opportunity to screen in a country whose women have bravely faced so many threats to reproductive freedom.

Polska premiera telewizyjna 🇵🇱🇵🇱🇵🇱 "Mówią na mnie egoistka": Historie kobiet, które nie zdecydowały się na macierzyństwo
TVN Style - w czwartek 28 września, o godzinie 22:00 - także 2 października

Thurs Sept 28 and Monday Oct 2 on TVN Style

https://tvnstyle.pl/mowia-na-mnie-egoistka-historie-kobiet-ktore-nie-zdecydowaly-sie-na-macierzynstwo-st7361614

Dlaczego część kobiet rezygnuje z macierzyństwa oraz z czym muszą się one zmagać? Czy bycie matką to faktycznie "ukoronowanie kobiecej podróży"? Odpowiedzi na te oraz inne pytania, a także jedno z bolesnych, społecznych tabu analizują autorzy dokumentu "Mówią na mnie egoistka".

Przez wiele lat młodym dziewczynom wpajano, iż miesiączka to wyjątkowy dar, który - kiedy się pojawi - oznacza "stawanie się kobietą". Miesiączkowanie oznacza przecież możliwość bycia matką. Co jednak, jeśli młoda kobieta matką być nie chce?

Autorzy dokumentu "Mówią na mnie egoistka" - w materiale poruszają kwestie nacisków ze strony otoczenia oraz opinii społeczeństwa, które wskazują, iż niedecydowanie się na dziecko wynika z egoizmu. Zastanawiają się również jak się żyje w świecie, w którym macierzyństwo jest "kobiecym przeznaczeniem".

Kiedy kobiety mają kontrolę nad swoimi wyborami reprodukcyjnymi, dzieją się potężne rzeczy.

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My So-Called Selfish Life is a provocative and entertaining documentary about one of our greatest social taboos: choosing not to have children.
https://myselfishlife.
com
📣 Be the First To Know when My So-Called Selfish Life is back in your area.
https://mailchi.mp/trixiefilms/firsttoknow

"Mówią na mnie egoistka": Historie kobiet, które nie zdecydowały się na macierzyństwo Dlaczego część kobiet rezygnuje z macierzyństwa oraz z czym muszą się one zmagać? Czy bycie matką to faktycznie "ukoronowanie kobiecej podróży"? To jedno z bolesnych, społecznych tabu analizują autorzy dokumentu "Mówią na mnie egoistka".

Celebrate International Childfree Day Aug 1st by supporting folks without kids, whether you're an employer, a medical practitioner, or friends and family. 🧡

Thank you to Women's Media Center for inviting me to write an article about the history and meaning of the day. Let's spread some love and kindness together!

FROM THE STORY
"Please stop asking your employees without children to cover for parents by staying late, working weekends, or swapping vacation dates because we “don’t have families.” This should not be a zero-sum game. Everyone deserves equitable time off, and our time outside work is worthy of respect. Please don’t make your employees fight it out among themselves because you have not created or enforced policies.

Understand that we actually do have families, if not always the nuclear kind: our partners or polycules; our parents, siblings, nieces, nephews; the people and animals we share our homes with; and all the others we need time to care for or be joyful with — including ourselves.

If you are a health practitioner, please practice patient-centered care by respecting our reproductive goals. Don’t immediately suggest egg freezing, or shut down requests for voluntary sterilization procedures. As the massive surge in such requests has indicated, many of us are terrified by the abortion bans, know we never want children, and don’t want to be forced into pregnancy."

STORY LINK: https://womensmediacenter.com/news-features/international-childfree-day-celebrates-the-childfree-choice

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🔥 STREAM My So-Called Selfish Life - ends Aug 18th! (Link in Bio)
My So-Called Selfish Life is a provocative and entertaining documentary about one of our greatest social taboos: choosing not to have children.

International Childfree Day Celebrates the Childfree Choice - Women’s Media Center August 1 is International Childfree Day, preceded by the Childfree Convention on July 29 and 30.

A new wave of Pronatalist Propaganda is influencing our society and our lives with misleading data and garbage ideas (and Elon Musk is only the beginning)

Tune in to the Childfree Convention Sunday from noon to 1pm. Nandita Bajaj of Population Balance and I will be talking with LeNora Faye of Childfree Blog about how to challenge and counter this status quo.💪 Don't miss it!

Live stream the convention all day on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/c/childfreeconvention
(also come back here for a recording of the two-day event)

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🔥 STREAM My So-Called Selfish Life - ends Aug 18th! (Link in Bio)
My So-Called Selfish Life is a provocative and entertaining documentary about one of our greatest social taboos: choosing not to have children.

A sell-out NYC premiere of with the best audience, the best panel, and the best event team anyone could ask for. Thank you everyone!!! 🧡 More premiere photos to come...

ANNOUNCEMENT! Meet our brilliant panelists (and stars of the film) for our post-screening conversation about reproductive choice and childfree lives:

⭐ Dr. Kristyn Brandi, ObGyn and abortion provider
⭐ Marcia Drut Davis, author and childfree pioneer
⭐ Dr. Bernadith Russell, ObGyn supporting honest paths to wellness
⭐ Therese Shechter, moderator and director of My So-Called Selfish Life

👉 Join us for the New York City Premiere of My So-Called Selfish Life on Tuesday May 16th. The screening and panel will be followed by a meet & greet with the film's cast and crew.

TIX LINK IN BIO!

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My So-Called Selfish Life is a provocative and entertaining documentary about one of our greatest social taboos: choosing not to have children.

WATCH THE FILM
🍎 New York City Premiere! May 16th + Filmmaker Panel/Q&A http://ow.ly/W0If50NVGsb
🍁 Canada! Stream via Vimeo on Demand http://ow.ly/zhnZ50NVGsc
📣 Be the First To Know when My So-Called Selfish Life is back in your area http://ow.ly/5Brk50NVGsa

Thanks for sharing your story Angel NDuka-Nwosu. Who else can relate to this?

An excerpt from the article in Urban Woman Magazine:
"Personally, I don’t want to have children and as an African woman, that is very sacrilegious to not want. An African woman is raised to see the birth of children and marriage as things that are normal rites of passage in order for her to be respected.
But what happens when you don’t want children? You are made to feel as though there is something lacking and wrong with you.
For me, the reason I don’t want children is that I simply don’t desire them. I love the innocence that children carry with them but I don’t believe in bringing a child into the world simply because it is expected of me. I strongly believe that children must come into the world feeling wanted.”

Read the whole story at https://urbanwomanmag.com/africa/on-being-african-and-childfree/

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My So-Called Selfish Life is a provocative and entertaining documentary about one of our greatest social taboos: choosing not to have children.

WATCH THE FILM
🍎 New York City Premiere! May 16th + Filmmaker Panel/Q&A https://bit.ly/41cON2I
🍁 Canada! Stream via Vimeo on Demand https://bit.ly/3LaQTe6
📣 Be the First To Know when My So-Called Selfish Life is back in your area https://bit.ly/3F8NHM7