The Feminist Breeder (Gina Crosley-Corcoran) is upset. Here she was, thoughtfully contracting with a sponsor to video blog every moment of “her” home VBAC live and no one is grateful.
You may recall me writing about the pathetic narcissism of live blogging a homebirth:
Silly me. I though birth was about having a baby. Evidently not. Gina’s baby is not mentioned even once. It’s about Gina and her willingness to graciously educate YOU, show YOU that birth doesn’t have to be perfect, and because YOU are so excited that you can’t imagine anything better to do with your time than follow every moment of stranger’s labor.
Evidently Gina can’t tolerate anyone who is not overwhelmed with gratitude for her self-absorbed-less effort to “educate” the rest of us with audio of her grunts of pain, pictures of vomit during transition and actual video of fecal contamination of the birth pool.
Now Gina is claiming, of course, that she is a victim. And how was she victimized? Apparently my failure to appreciate the sacred nature of her publicity stunt is cyber-bullying.
Here’s what Gina wailed in the comment section of a piece on Feministing about Ina May Gaskin. Her comment is a classic in the annals of self-absorbed, self-promoting, insecure NCB advocates who desperately seek validation for their “achievement” of pushing a baby through a vagina. I have helpfully annotated it (for your education).
Of course this article attracted the infamous, vile “Dr.” Amy (who isn’t even a practicing physician and NOT a member of the ACOG anymore.) [When a woman doesn’t agree with you, put her professional title in quotes. It is helpful to imply that “real” obstetricians (apparently those who belong to ACOG) think differently, even though everyone knows that the overwhelming majority of obstetricians consider homebirth to be dangerous and would be just as underwhelmed about Gina’s publicity stunt as I was (had they bothered to pay any attention to her).]
She and her unstable little cronies attacked, tortured, and cyberbullied me throughout my entire 9 month pregnancy – WHY? [Histrionic much? Hmmm, the entire 9 month pregnancy? Contrary to Gina’s belief that I am so interested in her that I followed her pregnancy from conception onward, my first post about her occurred when she was 7 months pregnant, and in response to her announcement that she would be live-blogging the birth.]
Because I chose to have a homebirth after two intensely traumatic hospital births. Anyone who’s reading her site and listening to it needs to check their head. That lady PUBLICLY wished that my baby would die. IN PUBLIC. ON HER NUTTY BLOG. [An example of the utter disrespect for the truth that is characteristic of natural childbirth advocacy. No one ever wished her baby would die, but, hey, it sounds so much more dramatic to pretend that it happened.]
As for whether birth and our reproductive autonomy is a feminist issue, HELL YES it is. The maternal mortality rate in this country is the WORST of any industrialized nation. [It isn’t, but when you are trying to make a point a lie is often far better than the truth].
Is that because a few women are birthing at home? NOPE! It’s because our cesarean rate is 32%, and our rates of intervention are nearly 100% in some hospitals. [Another lie that is ever so much better than the truth (see above).]
That’s not because those interventions are necessary, unless you believe that women are born fundamentally broken. We are NOT broken. [I never said or implied that Gina was “broken.” Ignorant, self-absorbed and desperately insecure, yes, but not broken.]
As Ina May says, “Your body is not a lemon.” We’ve internalized this misogyny for too long. Yes, some women need modern science for birth. MOST women do not. I’ve had the cesarean that nearly killed my spirit. [Oh, the tragedy. Her spirit was almost killed!]
I had the vaginal birth in the hospital that I practically needed lawyers at my bedside for. And I had the beautiful, swift, safe, practically PAINLESS homebirth that made me feel more connected to my body and baby than I ever thought possible. [And it needed to be video taped and live blogged because?]
Dr. Amy’s “science” is junk. It’s embarrassing to other physicians. And she’s just a plain horrible human being.
Here’s a few helpful hints, Gina (in the interests of education, of course).
- Writing satisfying lies does not make them true.
- Pushing a baby through a vagina is not an “achievement” and certainly not a feminist achievement. It’s what is known as biological essentialism, in short, the belief that women can and should be defined by their reproductive organs.
- Cyber-bullying is a serious problem and its significance should not be demeaned by wailing “cyber-bully” at anyone who doesn’t praise the ignorant and self-promoting gibberish you publicly post on the internet.
Finally, and most importantly, refusing to cater to your insatiable need for praise and recognition does not make other people horrible.
