Love birth, hate one born every minute? Birth community discourse around televised childbirth

Abstract

Childbirth is highly visible on television at a time when few people see birth in the family or community and access to antenatal education is declining. One Born Every Minute (OBEM) is the most highprofile example of this programming in the United Kingdom. Now on its ninth series, the series won a BAFTA in its first year and now exports programmes to the United States and France. However, such programming is controversial within the birth community. This chapter examines objections to the series-drawing on an analysis of published commentaries and opinion pieces from midwives, doulas and activists. Firstly we evaluate claims that televised birth promotes fear among women and damages the midwifery profession in the light of available research evidence. Secondly we explore the dominant conceptual questions that emerged from the analysis around the identity of OBEM as educational programming or entertainment, and its claims to represent reality. The birth community has raised important questions about birth on television and we draw together insights from a range of disciplines to argue for further research that is theoretically grounded to move the debate forward and tackle the complex question of how televised birth might be influencing women’s experiences of pregnancy and birth. The commentaries and opinion pieces from within the ‘birth community’ raise vital questions about the impact of televised childbirth on women’s experiences and on wider birth culture. However, some of the claims identified-that OBEM increases fear of birth, that it damages the profession of midwifery-need a stronger empirical basis if they are to be supported. We argue that interdisciplinary, theoretically informed research has potential to further the debate and inform interventions in popular culture.