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Date: | Sat, 23 Jun 2007 21:04:12 -0400 |
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Dear all:
Living here in Manhattan there is sometimes a curious dichotomy of "politically correct"
photos and behavior.
On the one hand, I did take a look at the photos from Canada and I think that these would
not cause many to bat an eyelash in Manhattan. In the last six months or so the "Red
Room" at Realbirth where I do breastfeeding clinics has undergone a face lift. A good
paint job to complement the red floor. Bright red paint on one wall in the lobby. And
beautiful photographs by professional photographers. My setting is a deep red carpet,
with red mats and white pillows and photographs of naked pregnant women. On the wall
near the window is a willowy woman with breasts exposed, a white whispy skirt and a
beautiful "bump" to coin the current cliche. On the other walls are all sorts of
photographs of barely clothed silouettes of pregnant women by themselves or with
partners of either gender. One is a woman and her husband only showing the torsos that
gently curve against each other. The other is a woman and a woman in three photos
where they are in black and it takes you until the third photo to recognize the gentle
curve of one of their curved bellies. The photos are sensual without being sexual. They
could be in an art museum. Since these photos have been hung, I can't tell you how
much more cheerful this room appears. Outside the room is literally a red hanging
lampshade --- a few beads dangling. No pink pastels.
A few photos that were in the room where I run my clinics have been moved to the
bathroom (not because of embarassment, but displacement for even better photos). The
bathroom has a rich deep red wall that works well with all these photos. One is a photos
of a placenta in a steel bucket between a woman's legs. Describing this, you might think
it to be a shocking or ugly photo. It is so subtle and beautiful that you cannot at first
figure out what is in the bucket. In the same red bathoom is a fabulous photo of a baby
about ready to clamp down hard on the underside of mom's nipple. A beautiful wide
gaping mouth, but headed straight for the nipple. Even though it makes me cringe in
anticipatory empathetic pain, it is beautiful. The lobby has a picture of a man naked to
the waist with his naked daughter holding her up above his head.
The "green room" now has its collection of photos recently added. These are a series of
birhing photos taking by a mom in the process of giving birth. She is a photographer and
got them from a mom's eye view of the process. A photo of her looking down at her own
belly in the bathtub while in labor, her hand clenched on the arm of the chair in what
appears to be her ob or midwife's office, a photo of the "exam" by her ob or midwife, her
hand supporting herself while she is on what is clearly the hospital bed, the health care
practitioner examining her belly, all the way through the baby being handed up to her and
placed on her belly. You never see the baby crowning because she is took the pictures all
the way through.
No one has objected to any of these photos.
At the same time, "Hooter Hiders" (a name I hate) are sold at Realbirth. Bizarre
psychodelic throwbacks to the 1960s to hide yourself while breastfeeding. I was prepared
to hate this addition to the other organic products sold until one of my moms taught me
an important lesson in different points of view. This mother HATED feeding at the breast.
I never really got to the bottom of why, but I was not hired as her shrink. She LOVED
pumping. Her husband really wanted her to breastfeed, but she really hated it. She
happily came to support group for a while pumping under the Hooter Hider. She
BEAMED. I really cannot tell you how much this transformed her experience. In all other
ways she really responded to her baby. She regularly came to group, put on the Hooter
Hider, pumped and bottle fed her baby. This was an important compromise for her and
her husband.
I'm thinking I should take photographs of the "photos" at Realbirth for anyone who wants
to see how daring one can get with photography!!!!
Best, Susan Burger
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