thebitterbabe

http://www.salon.com/2012/12/07/shakiras_fetal_fixation/

Whether it’s an international pop star or just that person you went to high school with spreading the news on Instagram, the ultrasound pic has become part of the increasingly detailed, publicly shared experience of baby-making. I know that life is amazing and whatnot, but here’s a thought: Not every internal miracle needs to be distributed to the world…

But the main reason that a widely shared ultrasound photo triggers such a sinking feeling in the pit of my being is that it represents the promise of a child’s life that’s relentlessly documented before the kid even breaks out of the amniotic sac. Somewhere in the process of what I have no doubt is the legitimate anticipation and happiness of starting a family, it’s just really easy to turn it into one big exercise in oversharing. To believe that everyone is entitled to, nay eager to, see the fascinating chronicle of what’s unique and special to us. But our children, our babies and even our unborn babies have a right to not become a constant source of fodder for our social media streams, just as our friends and followers have a right to not be deluged with the minutiae of our odyssey through breeding. And frankly, if there’s one location in the universe an individual ought to be entitled to a little privacy, it’s inside his mom’s uterus.