My body is a 3D printer: Why do people post photos of childbirth on instagram
Social networks have long been a place of struggle for the right to speak on taboo topics: in the last couple of years we have seen flash mobs designed to draw attention to the amount of violence in the patriarchal world, to depression that is not noticeable to others, and to the fact that having a breast with nipples and menstruation are perfectly normal features of women who don’t nothing dirty or indecent. Pregnancy and childbirth is another normal aspect of life, around which many taboos remain, so that more and more accounts appear on instagram, dedicated to the birth of a child.
From time to time, messages appear in the same place that the pictures were marked as “shocking” and deleted - and now that the instagram allows you to publish several photos in one post, their authors often make a “not for the faint of heart” content warning on the first frame. On the other hand, childbirth is clearly not the most shocking thing to be seen in instagram; there are, for example, extremely popular accounts of a forensic expert (almost half a million subscribers) or crime scene cleaning specialists (closed account).
Of course, no matter how outrageous the photos of the birth may seem to some people, in social networks since the times of “Live Journal” there is a “don't like - don't read” rule - however, from the same time, any challenging or controversial content receives a lot of comments with outrage. But each direction has its own audience, and the photos of the clans are not published in order to shock the faint-hearted public. Speech first of all is about normalization and this part of life, through which absolutely every person passed, we all were “there”.
A petition was launched against blocking accounts dedicated to childbirth and deleting photos, and more than twenty thousand people have already voted for the possibility of publishing photos of births without censorship. The author of the petition, Katie Vigos, says that her task is to tell women the truth about how childbirth proceeds: "Instagram continues to attribute the birth of a child to offensive materials, along with violence and pornography ... This is a continuation of the social taboo, still surrounding childbirth and affecting to our ability to publish true images. At the same time, instagram is a powerful platform that can provide people with free information, education and resources. "
Birth accounts are the glorification of bodypositive in the most direct sense. Happy moments are in such photos where no one poses, where dads cry, when they see their babies for the first time, where mothers are not made up and tired, where the children have not lost their swelling after a long stay in the aquatic environment. These are living emotions, tears of happiness or uncontrollable laughter from euphoria. Some photographers generally devote more effort trying to convey the emotional intensity of the moment and the excitement of the whole family, rather than the physiological aspects. These are truly unique moments when a mother first finds out what her baby looks like - or even what sex it is.
Although physiology is also important - if only because many people still do not imagine how a child is born, and hearing a phrase like "thirty-hour childbirth", they think that the child’s "exit" through the vagina lasts so long. Even the women themselves do not always know, for example, that after the child, the placenta should also be born - and in general they have a bad idea of what it is. With enlightenment regarding our own bodies and the processes taking place in them, things are still bad - and the unknown seems shameful or frightening. So photo stories can help pregnant women and their partners to better prepare for childbirth - without, of course, replacing consultations with doctors or midwives.
Instagram also becomes a business tool for photographers who specialize in childbirth photography. This is a separate art: reportage photography, in which it is necessary to adapt to the existing lighting and to be inconspicuous, without interfering with the doctors to do their work, and for the family to experience a complex spectrum of feelings. If during pregnancy a woman subscribes to the appropriate accounts, then with a high probability she will want the same photos - and what could be simpler than writing the authors of the photos you like directly?
Honest talk about childbirth is the best way to reduce the associated fears and anxiety. Yes, the female body in these moments is far from the conventional concept of beauty - but can the appearance of a new life be "ugly"? As one of our heroines said, "with this body, like a 3D printer, I printed a completely amazing boy - this is amazing." In the end, those to whom such photos seem repulsive, you can simply not watch them - but it would be better to think about why they are so frightened of them.
