Sherry Chandler

Carnival of Feminists

I See Invisible People is hosting Carnival of Feminists XIII and has done me the honor of including my post on elective C-sections.

Many intriguing titles in Terry’s selections on the theme of “Feminism and Challenges.” Topics range from aging to disability to rape to women artists to third-world feminism and I will be reading for some time.

At the moment, I want to draw your attention to Women’s Space/The Margins, where you will find a thought-provoking meditation on “Goddesses on Parade:” Birth, Pornography, and the Brittany Spears Birthing Statue.

Readers have suggested to me, perhaps inevitably, that it is a “feminist mindset” that causes women to elect Caesarean sections, that they are career-minded women trying to fit birthing into tight schedules. This kind of thinking doesn’t reflect anything that I would call feminism, which has always been about empowering women. Rather I think these women have been divorced from their physicality and stripped of their sexuality so they can fit into the corporate world — or a busy doctor’s schedule.

So I consider the post at Women’s Space/The Margins an enhancement of my own thoughts:

Following is some birth imagery I have gathered, together with some thoughts and questions I am having. I continue to be deeply disturbed by how feminists responded to the creation of the Britney Spears birthing statue. Before I begin, here is an image of a woman actually giving birth in the position represented in the Britney Spears statue. Although the woman’s body is covered, this photo demonstrates that this really is a position in which women labor and give birth.

…

Is the Britney Spears statue pornographic just because the woman represented is Britney Spears? Even though she was never consulted and did not give permission? Are images of Britney Spears quid pro quo pornography? If so, how so? If the statue of the Taina woman is also pornography, why is it? Because wherever women are nude and displaying their breasts and genitals, we are seeing pornography? Are representations of labor and birth pornographic, per se? Why? If they are not, why aren’t they? Is the statue of Britney Spears pornographic because it was created in the context of raunch culture? Is the image of the Taina woman somehow not pornography because it was created by an indigenous man to portray the cultural event of birth amongst his people?

Go and read the rest, look at the images, and consider.

Possibly related posts:

Pornography & censorship

Carnival

More on abortion rates

On losing the words

Another Ekphrastic Sonnet

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