Beyoncé and birth

My Facebook feed today is dotted with outrage over Beyoncé renting a full hospital floor for $1.6 million to give birth. (Note that most people complain about Beyoncé alone, tripping right into the most stereotypical oversight about birth -- that it's all the woman's responsibility and fault.)

The conversation threads begin by decrying conspicuous consumption, but most of them dissolve into sexist name calling, which is also telling. Is it that people are upset at unequal distribution of wealth? Or are they pissed off that a powerful black woman has so much of it?

My take is certainly influenced by a recent woman in labor myself. I imagine that their decision has less to do with flaunting wealth than it does with safety and the dangers that come with celebrity and fame. If I were Beyoncé, I wouldn't have felt safe laboring as if I were a non-celebrity in a regular hospital ward. People do crazy shit around laboring women and famous people, so being both at the same time would just invite all kinds of madness.

Another telling thing - and this is speculation, because I know nothing about their medical needs - is that they didn't just do a home birth to begin with. Hospital birth is so normalized in this country that even wealthy celebrities with access to most any birthing choice in the world STILL chose a hospital birth, likely because they believed that it was the safest option.