Interesting Article on "C-Section Backlash"

In a recent article on the Daily Beast the subject of the cesarean backlash is discussed. While the author attempts to make the article unbiased, it is always in the "eye of the beholder," as it were, to interpret the meaning of the article. You can read the comments to see how across the board each person reacted.

In general, the article brings up important points: women are becoming increasingly discouraged by the current state of maternity care and the options available and the cesarean rate has increased over the past 11 years and continues to do so. But to use words like "angry" and "subculture" implies that the women who join ICAN or begin blogs, etc to heal from birth trauma are somehow fringe or misplacing their emotions. That is a disservice to the women and their experiences.

And to other women to assume that not wanting a primary or repeat cesarean somehow makes you "subculture". That is assuming a blanket acceptance from all women when it comes to cesarean. In general, most women do not assume they will end up with a cesarean. They may be open to induction or epidurals, etc, but they trust that the outcome will be vaginal birth. For some women, the shock and dismay of not getting the vaginal birth they assumed was going to happen is traumatic. For others, the treatment in the hospital creates trauma. Whatever the case, their feelings and response are valid, not angry.

And for what it is worth, the artist of cesarean art they mention in the article was not always anonymous. She used to list a contact email and her name on the website. Unfortunately she received so much hate mail that she was forced to temporarily take the site down and then, once reinstated, remove any and all personal data from it. Her healing passage, that was a help to many women who had experienced similar trauma, was seen as "angry" and "subculture".