Future Now
The IFTF Blog
Coming to term with YouTube
I learned the other day from an NPR report that the correct use of the word "term" in the context of a pregnancy is when the gestation perriod ends. For soon-to-be moms curious about what coming to term looks like, YouTube offers a wealth of "how to give birth" videos. A New York Times article (in the Fashion and Style section, no less) notes that, "[i]nevitably most childbirth videos are graphic, challenging not just YouTube’s rules but also societal conventions on propriety"; however, YouTube makes exceptions for educational, documentary, or scientific videos.
Eugene Declercq, a professor at the Boston University
School of Public Health, is not surprised that women are logging onto YouTube to watch birth:
[It's a] natural inclination. 'A hundred and fifty years ago women viewed birth on a pretty regular basis — they saw their sisters or neighbors giving birth.' . . . [I]t wasn’t until the late 19th century that birthing moved out of living rooms and bedrooms and into hospitals. 'But now, with YouTube, we’ve come back around and women have this opportunity to view births again.'
I've never been pregnant, but if I was facing the prospect of childbirth, I could understand wanting to learn what it might be like from something a little bit more "real" than a Lamaze class. And now I know where to go.
