or a softie. i think i might possibly be the only crunchy in crunch-land who didn't get outraged by the 20/20 show. sure, there were things that got under my skin a bit, but i honestly just couldn't get...upset. angry. enraged. whatever. i sat there like a lump, cringed a couple times, said 'no, that's not right' out loud once, and let the rest slide.
that's it. no throwing the remote, no yelling at the TV (two things i'm known for when viewing the mainstream opinion of the lifestyle i've etched out for myself). just...sat. and watched.
maybe it's because i turned it on at the last minute, and went into without the pre-emptive mental attack "oh, god, what the hell are they gonna say this time?!". maybe i really did try to keep my mind open to it being a reasonable show. either way....
the orgasmic birth section actually surprised me. i thought they approached it with enough sensitivity as to not make the proponents look like whackjobs, and the interviewer seemed open-minded, if a little surprised.
the re-born segment was a little sensational and completely out of context, as was the serial surrogacy segment. they could have both been easily removed and more time given to the other topics.
the extended bf'ing segment was crap, i will say that. it was probably the one segment that got to me at all. it greatly illustrated how much more work needs to be done to normalize breastfeeding in this country. the fact that they can say 'the average age of weaning in other countries is 4', then go on to be shocked that 2-year-olds are still nursing is a bit much. as for the older kids they showed, it seemed like they were just striving for shock factor and nothing more.
the homebirth segment was confusing. at one point i couldn't figure out if they were talking about attended or unattended. i think that could've been separated a bit better, because for me, while homebirth is what both groups do, there is a vast difference between attended and unattended, and separate issues specific to each. to lump them together shows ignorance on the part of the interviewer. i was glad that the only 'official' statement made about homebirth was the blip about the AMA's statement, and that they had intelligent, well-known people, from regular individuals to doctors to celebrities, getting their voices out there with little opposition. the interviewer's shock and silly questions actually seemed a bit contrived, like she felt obligated to say what would be on the mainstream person's mind. and of course, the last bit about the 'emergency' birth could've been done a bit less dramatically, but overall, i thought the segment was decent and didn't show homebirthers in a bad light.
and when it was over, i turned it off and went back to work. no raised blood pressure. no steam still venting from my ears. no mumbled swears and curses. just a sense of 'well, that was better than i thought it would be'.
maybe it's partly due to the fact that i'm not currently baking a bun, so the defensive claws aren't ready to rip and tear. or maybe i'm just getting old and tired of being goaded.
2 comments:
I actually blogged about this today also, and had similar feelings to yours! Because I was interviewed for the homebirth segment, and am often trashed by the mainstream press, I was somewhat concerned by how I would be portrayed. Generally I try to have an "I don't give a %&$#" attitude but the thought of being portrayed as a nut on national TV was somewhat worrysome. :) And so I was pleasantly surprised!
But I was also surprised that they didn't distinguish between unassisted and midwife assisted homebirth. The producers certainly knew the difference. And Abby's birth story wasn't presented accurately, as far as I'm concerned.
But I agree there was much to like about the show! On some level I honestly believe the producers "got it" and to me that came through.
i agree. any show like that certainly has the opportunity to portray a topic in a bad light, and i came away feeling that, instead of choosing to make the community look bad, they instead presented good information and maybe started the ball rolling for other news shows to do the same. these topics are getting a lot of press, some good, some bad, but i seem to be seeing more good lately, which is encouraging.
but all the recent press has led to more blogging in the community, which sends me off on another tangent about how i'm noticing more of a split in the natural birth community amongst the assisted/unassisted opinion, or maybe i've just had more opportunity to really identify it. not sure, but it's something i want to address in another post soon.
Post a Comment