The term ‘Death Positive’ was coined in 2011 by Caitlin Doughty, mortician, and founder of The Order of the Good Death.
The Order of the Good Death believes that hiding death behind closed doors is harmful to society, and that the cultural silence of death should be broken. As it is inevitable, it is not morbid to be curious about death, and believe in equality in dying regardless of gender, race or religious identity and a person’s wishes should be honoured. They also advocate environmental led death practices such as, Recompose, a company that provides Natural Organic Reduction (human composting), as a more sustainable choice. They also suggest openness within family units, sharing of end-of-life wishes. To subscribe to these beliefs, makes someone ‘Death Positive’. It is not, however, positivity about the dying or death, and is more about shattering the West cultural taboos about death and the discussion of it (OGD 2023).
Other ‘Death Positive’ related activities include Death Cafés, places where discussion of death and dying are welcomed, and living wakes, where an older person holds a ‘wake style’ party to celebrate their life whilst they are living, rather than when they have died. Thy are often referred to by the ironic title of ‘Fun-erals’. However, I’d argue that a ‘Fun-eral’ are an extreme case of FOMO or ‘fear of missing out’, or perhaps the desire for affirmation of popularity, a very modern concept that we see with the ‘like’ buttons on social media.