Making Me Rethink My Thoughts

A big thank you to the 13th Carnival of Feminists, especially Women'sSpace, for making me really think about my knee jerk reactions to the Britney Spears birth statue. Goddesses on Parade should be required reading. Did I react to her statue because it was pornographic? Did I react because she has celebrity? Did I react because the statue showed birth as oversexualized? What is oversexualized anyway? What makes porn porn? My reaction was "Barf." Not my most eloquent, and I apologize.

I am dismayed at my own knee jerking. I'm also still dismayed at the statue. Art doesn't necessarily have to reflect reality, but Britney did have an elective cesarean. I don't know if she actually labored or not (not that it's any of my business, for that matter!) I'm dismayed at the message that the pro life community has been trying to make out of that statue: hurrah for young women who have babies early and stay home to take care of them instead of working.

Is the pro choice movement going to foster a statue of Katie Holmes screaming her head off? I have my doubts. Is some other movement going to make a statue of Angelina Jolie giving birth in Manhattan, when she's clearly planning to do it in Africa? Again, call me Thomas.