Streaming Birth On Facebook Is A Thing. Have We Gone Too Far?
I remember when webcams became "a thing." Now you could see what the creep on the other side of that Yahoo! chat looked like. Never did I imagine it would lead to this.
At breakfast this morning, my girlfriend told me about being present for the birth of her friend's kid. It was a touching moment, I suppose. That was until she said it had been live streamed on the web.
I choked down my coffee and over-medium eggs as she explained that there is a private Facebook group called BirthTube where women "empower" each other by live streaming the birthing process.
I was mortified. They stream it in the bath. They stream it at the hospital. They stream it c-section or natural. They stream it medicated and not.
Women encourage each other and share the miracle of child birth with each other in the confines of the extremely private group.
Which reminds me, the only miraculous part of child birth is that anyone survives it.
Here are the rules per the BirthTube website:
1. Female only.
2. All members must be comfortable viewing REAL footage of birth.
3. The BirthTUBE wall is reserved for mama’s going LIVE and recorded Birth Videos. ** Our sister group "BirthTUBE's Sister Group" is open-discussion and you may post there1
4. Selling, advertising, or sharing any clickable/affiliate links that take you out of the group are not allowed except by the creator of BirthTUBE, Paige LoPinto or if it is approved by Paige. *** If you would like for your product or service to be featured in the BirthTUBE Group, email hello@birthtubelive.com
5. No private messaging members or solicitation to any group members.
6. Absolutely NO medical advice whatsoever. Not even if you are a midwife/OB, etc.
7. No comments regarding camera angle or amount of people on a mama’s birth team, etc.
8. Reporting of images, videos or LIVE streams is strictly prohibited a. If you are ever concerned about an image or video, please email hello@birthtubelive.com
9. Do not share any images or screenshot any conversations in/out of this group.
10. We have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to negativity. Please keep your comments kind, respectful and uplifting or do not comment at all. We all have different opinions about the “best way to birth”. Should a mama be birthing differently than you might, please respect that the poster is sharing their love for birth education.
11. You agree to refrain from talking about images or videos outside of this group.
12. If you see anyone in the group not following these guidelines, please alert admin so we can take the appropriate action. Or email hello@birthtubelive.com
13. TO BECOME A MEMBER OF BIRTHTUBE, YOU MUST SIGN YOUR NAME AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE!!
For the safety of our members and privacy for the people sharing their birth videos. BirthTUBE does not approve... Male Profiles
Joint accounts shared with males
Profiles created in the last year
Profiles without a profile picture
I can understand the idea behind the group, and other groups like this one. Thanks to social media you no longer have to hang out at a church looking through support group meeting times to find people to connect with during a tough time.