Statistically, up to 25 percent of all pregnancies end in a miscarriage. So why do people so rarely talk about it? Cartoonist Chari Pere received a huge response to a comic she wrote about the trauma of her own miscarriage from both women and men about how relieved they were to find someone speaking up about how common it is, how it’s not your fault, and how it’s okay to let out your grief and ask for help. Eventually, with the assistance of the 2024 Jewish Writers’ Initiative Digital Storytellers Lab, she adapted the comic into an animated short film as part of a series called “Unspoken Cartoonmentary” that aims to tackle stigmatized and difficult societal topics with the goal of giving them a voice and an audience.
Here Chari addresses why it’s difficult to talk about a miscarriage, the role of men in sharing the trauma, and why it is an especially important topic for the Jewish community. Chari believes a miscarriage can have an even larger impact on your mental health than your physical health, so it’s important to open up the conversation about them.
You can still watch Miscarried for FREE in the virtual festival through 11/3: https://watch.eventive.org/mentalfilmness2024/play/6704b2b8dd02d60047462b6c/66f4621dfc390800dcddfe68
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