Giving Birth Becomes an Interactive Experience
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Over the summer, Sara Morishige Williams, the wife of the CEO of Twitter, tweeted while giving birth. A Minnesota woman named Lynsee has taken the natal overshare to the next level: She broadcast a video of herself giving birth on a local social networking site called MomsLikeMe and interacted with viewers while she was in labor. 23-year-old Lynsee, who would not give out her last name in order to protect her privacy (which apparently was not an issue when she decided to push out a person in front of thousands of other people), told ABCNews.com, "If I were in a classroom, I'd be teaching about development. It was a way for me to teach ... A way for me to use myself as a textbook."
Of course, there are actual textbooks and myriad shows on television that show the wonder of natural childbirth (see TLC's Birth Day and MTV's 16 and Pregnant). What bothers me about ABCNews' framing of Lynsee's story is that it assumes that she is merely a product of Generation Y, and that her contemporaries would see nothing wrong with broadcasting their births for anyone with an Internet connection to see. The article quotes Julie Taylor from the website MomLogic, who says of twentysomething moms, "For them, they've video-taped most of their lives anyway and they've grown up on reality TV. So maybe it's an old-fashioned notion to think twice." No, it's not an old fashioned notion. Most people of any generation don't want to be talking to curious strangers in the minutes between contractions.
Jessica Grose is the managing editor of Double X and the co-author of Love, Mom: Poignant, Goofy, Brilliant Messages from Home. Click here to follow her on Twitter.
Comments
re: Giving Birth Becomes an Interactive Experience
By: JeanE | Tue, 11/10/2009 - 03:45
In order for people to learn, they must be exposed to that which they need to be informed about. A doctor, who wants to learn how to do surgery, must observe another doctor performing surgery. Sometimes surgery is required on our "private" parts. Should doctors in training not gather as a group, then, to observe these surgeries because of the potential for group witnessing of nudity? I assert that this event was a documentary meant to educate the masses about the natural process of birth, which is something people need to be informed about. Instead of viewing it as a publicity stunt or an extreme need for attention, why not respect that the people involved truly wanted to educate as many people as possible as they claimed? From an educational standpoint, documentaries of birth are effective means of informing people of the birth process. We are not compelled to witness this event, but rather if we are interested we are invited to educate ourselves by witnessing it. Regarding breastfeeding in public, again I assert that education means exposure to that which we need to be informed about. It is a FACT that breastfeeding is the HEALTHIEST way to nourish a human baby and you don’t have to worry about money now because it is free, and yet many think it is a preference. The most effective way to educate the public that it is not merely a preference, but actually the healthiest choice is to expose the public to healthy babies and mothers who are nursing. There are many ways to educate--the visual documentary is just one.
Sharing birth
By: BadPixie | Mon, 11/09/2009 - 22:58
Sorry, but neither of the shows you mentioned actually showcase natural birth in the truest sense and the previous commenter is right. Modern hospital birth leaves a woman no privacy or intimacy, no peace and quiet and the company of endlessly coming and going strangers. The last thing I wanted to do while in labor was to belly up to a smartphone or computer. Then again, I was standing in my shower for most of it, emerging only to get into the birthing tub and push. Birth is a momentous event and the more you can get out of the front of your brain and relax, the better it goes. Next time you get a chance to be near a dog or cat giving birth, hang back respectfully and quietly and watch how they do it. Us bipedal and supposedly superior 'modern' mammals could learn a lot about healthy birth from our companions, and I don't mean the guy in the blue scrubs and hurried, curt demeanor.
Strangers, curious or otherwise
By: Madeline H | Mon, 11/09/2009 - 17:56
Totally get what you're saying, Jessica, but strangers -- curious or otherwise -- are exactly who you talk to between contractions during most births. The nurses on your shift, a doctor you may or may not have met, and, depending on the hospital, perhaps an intern or two. In most cases in the U.S., birth is hardly a private affair. Why not invite the masses?