What is society to do when America’s foremost bad ass tough-girl suggests that birth is terrifying? Was it not enough that Britney Spears admitted to scheduling an elective cesarean because, as she stated to Elle Magazine in October, “I don’t want to go through the pain [of vaginal birth]� Where does this fear come from, and why might is be more pronounced within today’s celebrity culture? Why would so many women opt for a major surgical procedure that is associated with higher mortality for both themselves and their baby, not to mention a 4-6 week recovery period?
Many have suggested that there is some serious mis-information going on, but I think that there is also something much bigger at play here. When you think about all of the messages that women get about their bodies— from menstruation suppression birth control pills to hormone replacement therapy— it’s no wonder that many women don’t have a whole lot of confidence in their bodies. And with all of the body pressures exerted on today’s starlets, it’s no wonder that so many articulate a deep seeded fear about the birth process and opt for major abdominal surgery over a vaginal delivery. It’s not that obtaining celebrity status somehow makes these women impervious to the body distrust that pervades society. If anything, these women are even more finely tuned to the body culture that surrounds us all. The problem is that we see them as somehow separate from wider society and we believe that their decisions, about birth and about everything else as well, are absolved from the social pressures that shape the lives of the rest of us. What we see as glamorous and trendy is really just the same old social pressures being reflected back to us by yet another pretty (albeit now pierced) face.
