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The issues of the loins

Sorry, it’s just been busy. I’ve been watching movies, weird and cool, dull and flashy, fun and funky. There is a lot of sci-fi future fantasty out there – and now I can’t take it in like brain candy, I’m really watching it.

One thing that came up as I was taking my notes was Childbirth. Women in the 23rd, 24th, and 25th century are still giving birth in that weird on-the-back position, groaning and screaming. Why? I know it’s popular now in Western cultures, but really?

I suggested this discussion to be taken up by a blogger I follow, but it never went past us fans chatting on a Facebook thread. But really, think about how important and damaging this is. It’s perpetuating something that might not be all that great for anybody. And in the years since I’ve brought my kids (not that long ago) into the world, everything we were told is turning out to be wrong. Breech birth? Okay! Home birth? Wonderful! Midwifery? Sure! Hypnobreathing? Go for it! Vaginal Birth after Cesarean? Doooo it!

But to look at the future, it seems like nothing has changed. It reflects the misconceptions we have now, and helps perpetuate it all. From Padme giving birth in a room full of robots and then mysteriously dying from the effort (STARWARS) to Keiko O’Brian screaming at her unexpected birth attendant, Lt Cmd Worf (STAR TREK NEXT GENERATION). I’d think Klingon men be required to attend births as a show of their strength, though I hope they don’t use the bat’leth for an episiotomy (Klingons are portrayed as “barbaric”, but I’m sure they realize that tearing naturally is better, and that there are a number of ways to prevent tearing).

But it’s not just the strange new worlds and new civilizations. On Earth you can’t give birth except on your back, with robed helpers listening to mom holler while dad is on the other side of a glass wall (GATTACA) or strapped down like the filthy breeder you are (FORTRESS).

What are these portrayals telling the next generation? That there is no other way to be, to live, to birth? Just my two copper, not that I’ve had a Spontaneous Vaginal Delivery of the issue of my loins.

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  1. […] in the future, aside from having rather barbaric childbirth practices, the warp drives are cooled by […]

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