Monday, February 16, 2009

BABIES!

For once, I'm not talking about politicians. I'm talking about actual babies.

Is it just me or has the media become completely baby obsessed?

British couple have little girl; girl is 15 and boy is 13.

American womyn has octuplets. And they debate whether it was allowed.

And then there's Hollywood....

We had Jamie Lynn. Then Bristol Palin. Then they discussed the difference between the coverage of both. And don't forget Juno!

And of course, there's always the Brangelina brood. And then, they debated whether the octuplet womyn was obsessed with Angelina.

Hollyweird considered questions like: Is Suri Cruise too old to be drinking from a bottle? Is Salma Hayek addicted to breast feeding?


Now...

Don't get me wrong. I think it's important to pose questions about motherhood, constructions of motherhood, views of young motherhood and the like. These ideas, debates and discussions need to happen.

But everywhere I look, it's fucking babies! babies! babies! and I'm not seeing critical analysis. I'm seeing baby bump crazes and high-horse right (and left) wing pundits casting judgement on people whose stories and lives they know nothing about.

The only substantial thing I get about all of this, is that the concept of "choice" is a hell of a lot more nuanced than it initially appears.

And that giving birth to 8 babies looks really uncomfortable.

4 comments:

Making !T Work said...

Babies are the new distraction to reality.

Feminist Catalyst said...

Agreed.

But to play devil's advocate, is it wrong for people to seek news other than war and the economy?

LCV said...

Babies are the new black.

I agree. It seems as though the current fascination with babies are connected with the current economic downturn. The glorification of babies and home life offer an escape from the depressing economic system.

However, I am not convinced that this is a new wave at all. Given that we are twenty-something year olds, and we see our friends and neighbours starting to have their own babies, we are becoming more aware of them. We have perhaps become sensitized to all things baby.

That, and I can't frickin walk down my sidewalk without having to make way for a hummmer-sized stroller carrying a single child.

Feminist Catalyst said...

I agree that my aerials are probably tuned in to these things as of late anyway, but I still think there's been a large surge in this type of coverage as of late.

Babies and Barack. That's all they've got.