Do Voyeuristic TV Shows bother anyone else? Health Channel...

[KoKo]

and Nature which seem to obsess over showing every part of personal lives?

I have Cable which I rarely watch, but flipping channels occasionally I find I'm shocked at what's on. Just now I was flipping channels to find Soro's interview on CNBC and got hooked on a Birth:

This is what they showed:

A Man in a bathtub with his pregnant wife in the throes of labor lying on his lap. There were maybe five people all around this bath tup with a Doctor coaching the woman on. Her legs are spread and they put the camera underwater to show the crown of the babies head emerging. The baby emerges and surfaces in the doctors hands and she scoops out the mouth and the baby cries. She hands the scissors to the man who still has his wife on top of him in the bathtub and he cuts the umbilical cord. Everyone seems happy and they cut to a family celebration out in the living room and show the baby in bed with the mother.

The couple seemed very nice. The woman did close her legs after the baby exited so that one couldn't see her vagina or the blood from the placenta and they cut to the baby lying on her lap with the Doctor wiping it off. So, it was "tastefully done."

Here's my problem: I found it really gross and a voyeuristic Vanity Display. I think this is typical of what's on many Cable Channels these days. It bothers me. But then I'm over 40 years old and maybe grew up when "privacy" was more important than it is today and "private things" were not shared with thousands of people.

:shrug: Does this stuff bother anyone else or do you find that it's entertaining or just part of living in our "Global Community" that we can share our personal/private experiences with more than just our families and immediate friends. Do you feel it's beautiful that this family could share their most intimate momements with thousands on a Cable Channel and that folks could really learn something wonderful from sharing the experience with them by viewing it? Does it increase our knowledge of information because the "Health Channel" allowed us to share this families joy of birth in their bathtub?

[BrklynLiberal]

1. I do find it somewhat amazing where people will allow cameras these days.

I guess more and more people just want their "15 minutes of fame".
The kind of moment you described is not as bad as some of the shows where people allow themselves to be publicly humiliated.
I have never watched any of the "reality" shows, but find it interesting what people will allow themselves to be subjected to, especially knowing that it is being filmed, and will be shown to millions of people on TV.
Most of those are on the non-cable channels.

[ThomCat]

2. I think a whole lot of stuff on tv

is too personal. Just because the people are willing to do almost anything in front of a camera doesn't mean it should be shown on TV.

I rarely watch TV. When I do, I often flip though channels and wonder what people were thinking.

[LeftyMom]

3. I find it odd at best

Birth is a very private thing. I was bothered by the number of strangers who felt the need to look at my crotch without even introducing themselves first while birthing my son, sufficiently so that if I have any more kids I really don't want to do it in a hospital. The idea of having a camera crew there as well sounds about as inviting as inviting one to the conception. :scared:

As a health matter, birth goes best when the mother is relaxed. Generally privacy, dim light and quiet help, so filming a birth could prove counterproductive.

[Warren DeMontague]

4. I actually think it's educational.

If people want to allow it, more power to 'em.

Too many folks are WAY in denial about the processes of life, and what human beings actually are- animals.

[arcane1]

5. cheap to produce, and keeps people away from the real 3-D world

[KoKo]

9. Probably the truth of it....makes folks feel warm and comfy.....n/t

[arcane1]

11. reality tv- all the joys of gossip, without the human interaction

[Stinky The Clown]

6. I would bet that whoever that couple was .....

..... they tought, in their mind, they were doing something good by sharing their decision to have a less-than-conventional birthing.

I am far more offended by the Military Channel or the Pentagon Channel than by this stuff. I'd rather every kid in America got to see a birth than a death by some smart bomb.

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. Ditto.

[pecwae]

8. American Idol is far more offensive,

gross, voyeuristic. The only reality shows I watch are the Baby Stories, human and animal. Both make me puddle up and I feel fortunate to be invited to share in the joy of the birth of a wanted and loved child.

[zbdent]

10. Howard Stern once said that, once you watch a baby come out of that

you don't want to go back in . . .