What's the Most Enraging Thing Someone Said About Your Pregnancy?
The phrase "cute bump" hurts us all. (It's live thread go time!)
Happy Wednesday! Our first thread was SO generative and thought-provoking and we’re super excited to jump back in. THANK YOU for all your smart, funny, and insightful reflections! Still thinking about the fascinating quagmire that is piano lessons.
Today’s LIVE THREAD starts promptly at high noon (EST) and ends at 1PM, but you can always access the discussion after the fact.
In last week’s podcast ep, we both talked about our personal experiences performing pregnancy, and came to the conclusion that pretty much all unsolicited comments about a pregnant person’s body are fucked up. The phrase “cute bump” hurts us all. In Virginia’s discussion with scholars Margaret Quinlan and Erin Basinger, they unpacked how damaging, and in some cases, deadly, the idealization of a certain kind of pregnant body can be for fat pregnant folks. Pregnancy and maternal healthcare are such sensitive topics, and unfortunately, periods of of life when many of us experience a lot of painful, shitty comments, so let’s be extra gentle with ourselves and each other for this one.
Did people tell you you must be pregnant with a girl because it looked like she was “stealing your beauty?”
Did people compare your body to a fruit?
Did people reference “child-bearing hips?”
What's the most infuriating thing someone said about your pregnancy? Let’s validate each other’s rage.
PS. We know, of course, that not everyone becomes a parent through pregnancy. Adoptive parents, step parents, and other caregivers: Feel free to share your own rage-inducing stories about how the world perceives your parental body!