Don't know? Don't drink... Maybe?
Every so often, I stumble across ads on social media by the Health Promotion Agency targeting young women warning them not to drink if they think they might be pregnant. You may have seen them - the account is called 'Don't know? Don't Drink' and have appeared to me on Facebook and Instagram as sponsored content. For some reason, these ads make me feel uncomfortable; I can't quite seem to put my finger on it, but every time they come up I feel uneasy and a little bit frustrated at their continued existence.
Essentially, the whole campaign is really hinged on the idea of not drinking if you don't know if you're pregnant. Being a cis-woman, honestly I can tell you that until that period arrives, I don't know 100% for certain if I am pregnant. Heck, I don't even 100% know WHEN I get my period. We're all aware of that one friend of a friend who continued getting periods and never showed the whole of her pregnancy until one day SURPRISE she have a baby (an idea that torments me on sleepless nights. I don't want a baby!) This campaign really pushes hard the idea that if you don't know if you're pregnant, you shouldn't drink. So for me, despite practicing safe sex, that would be never, because contraception is never 100% reliable (which sucks because Japan has such cheap alcohol). As per this campaigns Instagram bio 'Alcohol can harm babies, even in the first few days or weeks after the sexy time', but the way they push the idea of not knowing if you're pregnant, makes it seem like you could be pregnant whenever; therefore, a) shaming women for sexual activity and b) shaming women for consumption of alcoholic beverages, because if you truly wanted to be completely safe and a good young woman, you could never have sex and never drink alcohol. NOPE.
To go back to their bio - 'Alchohol can harm babies, even in the first few days or weeks after the sexy time' - the wording specifically does two things; firstly it infantilises women by calling sex 'sexy time'. Is this funny? Is it relevant? Talk to us like adults, not trying to meme-ify everything. It ends up sounding like an embarrassed 90's sitcom, or that horrible movie Borat. Secondly, it also calls an early pregnancy a 'baby' despite specifically stating 'the first few days or weeks'. Would you consider a pregnancy within the first 'few days or weeks' to be a baby? This is also the prime time for the body to reject the pregnancy, without anyone ever knowing it existed, no matter how #healthgoals a woman is. It also lends itself to the whole pro-life anti-choice rhetoric of how as soon as there is a zygote it now officially is alive, with all the rights of a full person, but no actually even better its rights now surpass those of its mother who is actually so kindly carrying it, feeding it, and basically sustaining it.
Is this a weird ploy to try guilt women into not drinking because babies? Are the weird memes to prevent instances of FADS worth the playing into the sexist and anti-choice rhetoric? I get that this campaign is to combat Foetal Alcohol Development Syndrome (FADS). But is throwing memes at it the correct response towards FADS in New Zealand? Radio New Zealand recently came out with a podcast on FADS response in New Zealand from the perspective of parents who are raising children with FADS, which bought up the very pertinent question of what are we doing with the children and their families with FADS? Children with FADS often require extra help at school, have developmental and behavioural issues. I feel that instead of putting money into making memes that shame women for their choices about their own body, that money could be going somewhere a lot more meaningful, such as funding the extra help that children with FADS need, or into more meaningful public policy tackling New Zealands drinking issue.
Essentially, the whole campaign is really hinged on the idea of not drinking if you don't know if you're pregnant. Being a cis-woman, honestly I can tell you that until that period arrives, I don't know 100% for certain if I am pregnant. Heck, I don't even 100% know WHEN I get my period. We're all aware of that one friend of a friend who continued getting periods and never showed the whole of her pregnancy until one day SURPRISE she have a baby (an idea that torments me on sleepless nights. I don't want a baby!) This campaign really pushes hard the idea that if you don't know if you're pregnant, you shouldn't drink. So for me, despite practicing safe sex, that would be never, because contraception is never 100% reliable (which sucks because Japan has such cheap alcohol). As per this campaigns Instagram bio 'Alcohol can harm babies, even in the first few days or weeks after the sexy time', but the way they push the idea of not knowing if you're pregnant, makes it seem like you could be pregnant whenever; therefore, a) shaming women for sexual activity and b) shaming women for consumption of alcoholic beverages, because if you truly wanted to be completely safe and a good young woman, you could never have sex and never drink alcohol. NOPE.
To go back to their bio - 'Alchohol can harm babies, even in the first few days or weeks after the sexy time' - the wording specifically does two things; firstly it infantilises women by calling sex 'sexy time'. Is this funny? Is it relevant? Talk to us like adults, not trying to meme-ify everything. It ends up sounding like an embarrassed 90's sitcom, or that horrible movie Borat. Secondly, it also calls an early pregnancy a 'baby' despite specifically stating 'the first few days or weeks'. Would you consider a pregnancy within the first 'few days or weeks' to be a baby? This is also the prime time for the body to reject the pregnancy, without anyone ever knowing it existed, no matter how #healthgoals a woman is. It also lends itself to the whole pro-life anti-choice rhetoric of how as soon as there is a zygote it now officially is alive, with all the rights of a full person, but no actually even better its rights now surpass those of its mother who is actually so kindly carrying it, feeding it, and basically sustaining it.
Is this a weird ploy to try guilt women into not drinking because babies? Are the weird memes to prevent instances of FADS worth the playing into the sexist and anti-choice rhetoric? I get that this campaign is to combat Foetal Alcohol Development Syndrome (FADS). But is throwing memes at it the correct response towards FADS in New Zealand? Radio New Zealand recently came out with a podcast on FADS response in New Zealand from the perspective of parents who are raising children with FADS, which bought up the very pertinent question of what are we doing with the children and their families with FADS? Children with FADS often require extra help at school, have developmental and behavioural issues. I feel that instead of putting money into making memes that shame women for their choices about their own body, that money could be going somewhere a lot more meaningful, such as funding the extra help that children with FADS need, or into more meaningful public policy tackling New Zealands drinking issue.
Comments
Post a Comment