sexandsensibilities.com

Washington, D.C. — I was one of those millions of girls who grew up devouring fashion magazines with Christy Turlington in them. I never in my wildest dreams thought that I would ever be in the same room with her, much less have something to talk to her about — apart from me gushing over her past magazine covers and how I was convinced to spend my limited allowance buying the Maybelline cosmetics that she endorsed, hoping that I, too would be “born it”.

But as it turns out, I would have the chance to meet Christy Turlington and actually had a lot to say. And it was all because of a documentary on maternal health entitled, “No Woman, No Cry” that she directed.

The documentary marks the directorial debut of Ms. Turlington and is in part based on her own personal birthing experience.

Shortly after she gave birth to her daughter, Ms. Turlington hemorrhaged. Thanks to timely care and intervention, she was saved. It made her think of all the other women out there who suffer the same kind of birth complications, but do not get the same care. “About 15 percent of all pregnancies will have complications, but not all women will get the emergency care that they need.” says Turlington.

“No Woman, No Cry”, which Turlington personally financed, is filmed in various parts of the world – in Tanzania, Bangladesh, Guatemala and the US. In Tanzania, a young pregnant woman named Janet has to walk to the rural health clinic which is one hour away. The clinic only has four beds, one mid-wife and one nurse.  On occasion, there is an attending physician.

In Bangladesh, 91 percent of all births occur at home. It is considered a disgrace for a woman to go out and give birth at a health clinic. Giving birth at home poses its own dangers, but if a woman should due to birth complications, it is considered a heroic sacrifice.

In Guatemala, “No Woman, No Cry” delved into abortion. Since abortion is illegal in Guatemala even in cases of incest or rape, women who have tried to undergo one are highly stigmatized. According to Turlington, she particularly chose this story, because in hospitals, there are wards of women who are denied post-abortion care because of the stigma attached to abortion.

Christy Turlington Burns answers questions about her documentary, "No Woman, No Cry". Other female movie makers were part of the panel.

After the film showing, I introduced myself to Ms. Turlington and told her that like Guatemala, in the Philippines abortion is also illegal even in the cases of rape and incest. I added that in the Philippines, abortion is a crime punishable by law. A woman who tries to get an abortion could be imprisoned for a maximum of 6 years and medical care practitioners who give her post-abortive care also risk punishment. Her eyes widened when I told her about this. “It’s sad that the similarity between the two countries had to be this.”, she said.

I wanted to tell her so much more. About how the poor women in Manila are outright denied contraception; how there are 4 babies born every minute and about haf of them are unwanted or unplanned. I wanted to tell her how similar to the use of an art, as with “No Woman, No Cry”, Sex and Sensibilities was trying to bring home the messages of sexual health and the need to assert reproductive health rights in a medium like the internet, all packaged in a sexy chic manner that girls would hopefully gravitate to.

But of course, there were too many people who also wanted to have their photo taken with Ms. Turlington, who wanted a copy of her video or simply wanted to congratulate her and commend her efforts on driving awareness of maternal health.

Our conversations about motherhood and other girl talk will have to be saved for another day, or may be never. When would be the next possible time that I would be in the same room as Christy Turlington?

Supermodel Christy Turlingtonn Burns and myself.

So I will go home with a picture and know that though magazine pages and fashion runways will forever differentiate us from one other, the more universal values of motherhood and the hope for equality for all mothers and their children once brought us together.

And if you think about it, these are issues all women can relate to — supermodel or not.