Posts Tagged ‘home birth’
Mazel Tov and a rant
Cory Doctorow and Alice Taylor are, as Clive calls it, out of beta. A big Mazel Tov, and a second one for having it their way. Personally, I think home birth is a bad idea, and I have some private experience to back that, but I’m not here to discuss my private choices or theirs. I’m really happy for them. Every child is a miracle. Childbirth is the most amazing experience in the human repertoire, and we should never take it for granted when it all goes well. My kids are my dearest treasure, and the one thing in my life I am unreservedly proud of. I wish them the same.
One thing pissed me off though, among the many blessings and congradulations, I find FoetusNail who contributes:
(my emphasis).
So here’s my message to you, FoetusNail: Who the fling are you to tell someone else where they belong? Please detach your backward sexism and puritan family values from any suggestion of “green”, “hip” or otherwise forward thinking ethics.
Mommies belong where they choose to be and how they choose to live.
Daddies belong where they choose to be and how they choose to live.
Babies belong where their parents decide is best for them.
I’ve bloody had it with western family-fundamentalism, where a mum is considered inadequate if she thinks she’s entitled for a life of her own, and a dad is considered a looser if he prefers to spend time with his kids and not with business associates at the local. No wonder women in the UK take off 70% of depression related sick days and at least a fifth are taken by women aged between 35 and 44. What kind of society thinks that an adult person can be content changing nappies and planning the next sponsored pony ride at school coffee morning for 10 years of her life?
You know, in most “primitive” societies, it is perfectly normal for a woman to leave her 3 months old baby with an older relative, or with a decent child care service, and get back to her job. Maybe its time for the west to take a humble lesson in equality and social inclusion.
