Birthzilla backlash
Anger as doctor says some women think they are ‘only ones who ever gave birth’
A WAR of words has broken out over the use of the term ‘birthzilla’ to describe a demanding mother-to-be who wants the perfect birth.
The term ‘birthzilla’ was quoted approvingly by a leading obstetrician at a conference this week, leading to anger among some pregnant women, according to one maternity organisation.
Speaking at the first Maternity, Media and the Law conference in Dublin, Dr Aoife Mullally, who practises at the Coombe Women’s and Infants Hospital in Dublin and at Portlaoise Hospital, said an increasing number of ‘overanxious, middle-class mothers’ had unrealistic expectations of ‘perfect births.’
Dr Mullally quoted American obstetrician Amy Teuter, who said: ‘For many women, the birth experience has acquired a similar status to one’s wedding day: overprivileged, over-anxious middleclass “birthzillas” harassing well-meaning hospital staff with unrealistic birth plans, all the while egged on by ill-informed, overpaid midwives and doulas.’
Dr Mullally went on to say that some women ‘think they are the only woman who has ever given birth and certainly think they are the only woman giving birth in the labour ward that day’. Some women who do not have natural births, said Dr Mullally, feel that they have let themselves down. However, this was an ‘elitist’ view of how birth ‘should be’.
Dr Krysia Lynch, chairwoman of the Association for Improvements in Maternity Services Ireland (AIMS), who was also a speaker at the conference, told the Irish Mail on Sunday that she could understand why the remarks had caused ‘such upset’ among women, with some calling on social media for Dr Mullally to apologise.
Dr Lynch said: ‘We have received a lot of calls and about 25 emails, and some women are seeking a public apology. Some people are completely enraged and feel very, very angry.
‘One woman wrote to us, saying she thought the remarks were disgraceful and that they were horribly condescending and insulting to women, that they dehumanised them.’
In reference to Dr Mullally’s remark that some women think they are ‘the only woman to have ever given birth’, Dr Lynch said: ‘Every woman should be entitled to feel that. For her, it might be the only time she ever gives birth in her whole life and will be something she will remember for the rest of her life.’