Yes, you read that right.
No, I’m not talking about sexual assault in the tub.
I’m talking about the latest in an endless parade of reasons that natural childbirth advocates can feel victimized.
You may recall the horror of hatting, wherein the act of putting a knit hat on a newborn baby purportedly can precipitate a maternal hemorrhage or affect a baby’s health for the rest of his life.
But whining about your baby’s hat is so 2012. Today’s NCB advocates are modeling the latest in victimology, as explained on CafeMom:
Almost to years after i gave birth, I still find myself upset at the hospital we were at…
They gave my twins their first bath without even telling me. It was the day after they were born, the nurse told me to get up and walk and the babies would sleep in the nursery. I was gone for about 20 minutes and when I came back, they brought the babies back and said they had their first bath… I feel like they took something away from me.
I never got a warning. At the time i kept it in and now I’m sorry I did because to this day, it still hurts. ;(
Despite all the talk of empowerment, the role of victim is hallowed in natural childbirth advocacy, and it is inextricable from the NCB penchant for finding new reasons to whine. Just like Bridezillas, Birthzillas are continually searching for ever more trivial reasons to be outraged that their “special day” was ruined.
Indeed, there is an entire NCB website devoted to whining about victimization. It’s called My OB Said What??!! and it is seemingly endless parade of whining from women whose had their feelings hurt when their providers told them things they didn’t want to hear, on the false presumption that these were adults mature enough to deal with disappointment. The providers didn’t understand that in NCB world disappointment=victimization, being forced to address reality=victimization, getting only a healthy baby but having diminished bragging rights=victimization.
For a movement that claims to be about empowering women, there are an amazing amount of women so fragile that two years later they are complaining that they didn’t get to give the baby his or her first bath.
But then natural childbirth advocacy was never about birth, and certainly never about the baby. It’s about the way that women want to see themselves, and apparently a lot of NCB advocates want to see themselves as victims.
The phrase “bath rape” was coined by a member of the Fed Up With Natural Childbirth Facebook group.
