My current thinking about birth seems to center around how it's presented in movies and television, why it is or isn't necessary, and why I can't think of many real life experiences related to it.
When pregnancy and birth are depicted in movies and television, the way these subjects are approached tends to vary a lot depending on the audience. For instance, anything aimed toward teenagers shows pregnancy as highly uncomfortable, and birth as agonizing. Any show or movie aimed at a older audience shows pregnancy as beautiful, and birth as being "worth the pain". Neither of these approaches are ideal, since both approaches stem from people striving to tell their audience what they need to hear, or what they want to hear - the movies for teenagers try to convince them to not get pregnant, while the movies for older audiences aim to show birth as natural and beautiful, since the people (women) watching those movies tend to be closer to an age where they will want to have a child. I have always been perplexed by this. To be simultaneously told that pregnancy is wrong, and that pregnancy is beautiful, strikes two completely different chords.
Despite all the disparities in the way pregnancy is portrayed in movies and television, there does seem to be an underlying theme: Having a baby, or being a father to one (at the "right" time) is essential to having a "complete" life. However, I disagree: I don't think that having a child should be looked at as one's duty in life. Women who don't want to have children seem to be stigmatized for this, even though there is actually no reason they should be. Having a child should be seen as a joyful, albeit uncomfortable, experience - not just something someone has to do. The human population on earth will continue to grow exponentially even if a few people decide not to have children.
Throughout my pondering about pregnancy and birth, I haven't been able to come up with many real life experiences. I have visited various women in the hospital when they have just had a baby (friend's parents, mostly), but never have I known and been close to someone while they were pregnant. I wondered why I didn't ever ask anyone about it, or why the only time it was ever talked about was in biology and health class. In fact, the first thing that came to mind when I thought about birth was an episode of The Buried Life where the main characters want to help deliver a baby. During this unit, I would like to ask someone about being pregnant and giving birth, in order to gain a more real understanding about the topic, as opposed to the one I have constructed from movies and television.
Questions about birth:
How is pregnancy viewed in other countries, and does this affect how much medical care and attention pregnant women in those countries get?
How much of what the movies and television say about pregnancy and birth is true?
Why is natural birth considered "better"?
How is "natural birth" defined? Is it just birth without drugs, or birth at home as opposed to a hospital?
Why is teen pregnancy viewed as so wrong and immoral? It is, technically, what is supposed to happen.
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