When I wrote yesterday's post about Catherine, The Duchess of Cornwall's apparently very interesting post-natal womb, I forgot to include this article which a good friend of mine told me about a while ago: http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23276432 - essentially, a female photographer who takes pictures of her own and other people's post-natal bodies. While I am happy that women find the ability to feel content in their own skin, and for some these photo sessions really help that process along, I still find it depressing that it is even news-worthy: "Woman has baby and is not ashamed of her resultant body!" Sigh.......
Monday 5 August 2013
Sunday 4 August 2013
How come One's bump is so interesting?
So, last week came the moment we have, apparently, all been waiting for with bated breath. The latest heir to the British throne was born. Apart from the admiring and cooing articles, the occasion also caused some controversy. The Duchess of Cambridge walked out of the hospital, about 24 hours after giving birth and happily showed off her baby boy - and her protruding womb. I would not have thought this would be a particularly interesting thing for journalists to devote column inches to - after all, why should the Duchess, or Catherine, make any attempt to conceal her perfectly natural shape - even a royal cannot fight nature and if a womb has very recently contained a baby, a placenta and a large amount of water, it is bound to still be large.
But, I was shocked to learn 2 things: (1) Various people and groups around the world, such as Siobhan Freegard, who co-founded Netmums, found it necessary to praise Catherine for not hiding her post-natal bump, saying that her actions made a lot of new mums feel more confident, as many celebrity mothers hide their stomachs until they have dieted severely. In Denmark, sociologist Emilia van Hauen also cheered as she pointed out that seeing Catherine showing off her baby curves freed mothers from unrealistic expectations of regaining a flat stomach 2 days after the birth. Elsewhere in Denmark, some cleverclogs pointed out that Danish princesses tend to hide their post-natal stomachs with tight bands and by covering up the stomachs. How depressing.
(2) While researching this, I also found an article on a Danish fitness-magazine site, which kindly explained that women's stomachs return to normal (ie. a flat state) 6 - 8 weeks after the birth, but that for some, it never does, unless one carries out certain exercises. How helpful - I guess the several months, nigh on years it took my friends and I was just an anomaly then!
(Clearly not) OK! magazine published a front cover discussing Catherine's post-birth exercise regime. I tried to find the magazine so I could make a more detailed comment on this, but it was nowhere to be found. However, I did discover that in a later edition, the magazine featured a general article about post-natal health. In this, they happily stated that "It will take some weeks to regain your pre-pregnancy shape". These kind of comments are particularly damaging as they are thrown in amongst more useful diet and fitness advice, thus fooling women into thinking that this is the norm.
The fact that we have to praise a new mum for not hiding the fact that her body has just given birth is disgusting - what kind of society allows the systematic pressurising of its citizens on such a grand scale? This pressure reaches far beyond post-natal women. Mimi Spencer lost 21 pounds when she went on the Intermittent Fasting programme and then wrote a best-selling book about it, along with Dr. Michael Mosley (who wrote and presented a BBC documentary about this and other types of fasting and how they made people healthier). Mimi now feels far more confident and content - she initially lost too much weight but now feels she has reached her ideal. In an article, she reveals that researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin have found out that a woman's weight affects her happiness more than her love life does. In other words, most women would rather be their ideal weight than happy in love.
According to the Channel 4 documentary "Alex Brooker: My Perfect Body", it is estimated that 2 out of 5 women are dieting at any one time. These depressing statistics do not just include women. The programme also revealed that 1/3 of men would give up a year of their life for the perfect body! I can't help but wonder which year - one where they are wearing an adult nappy and drooling at their slightly awkward and bored-looking relatives who only visit them in the care-home out of a sense of duty and a desire to be kept in the inheritance loop? Perhaps the year in which their voice broke, their nose grew alarmingly big and that snooty girl broke their heart by dating their best friend? Sadly, in the UK, 70% of men are ashamed of the way they look. Just think about that - 70%!! Of course, 30% of statistics are made up, so who knows what the real figure is - probably covered up by some serious support underwear....
But, I was shocked to learn 2 things: (1) Various people and groups around the world, such as Siobhan Freegard, who co-founded Netmums, found it necessary to praise Catherine for not hiding her post-natal bump, saying that her actions made a lot of new mums feel more confident, as many celebrity mothers hide their stomachs until they have dieted severely. In Denmark, sociologist Emilia van Hauen also cheered as she pointed out that seeing Catherine showing off her baby curves freed mothers from unrealistic expectations of regaining a flat stomach 2 days after the birth. Elsewhere in Denmark, some cleverclogs pointed out that Danish princesses tend to hide their post-natal stomachs with tight bands and by covering up the stomachs. How depressing.
(2) While researching this, I also found an article on a Danish fitness-magazine site, which kindly explained that women's stomachs return to normal (ie. a flat state) 6 - 8 weeks after the birth, but that for some, it never does, unless one carries out certain exercises. How helpful - I guess the several months, nigh on years it took my friends and I was just an anomaly then!
(Clearly not) OK! magazine published a front cover discussing Catherine's post-birth exercise regime. I tried to find the magazine so I could make a more detailed comment on this, but it was nowhere to be found. However, I did discover that in a later edition, the magazine featured a general article about post-natal health. In this, they happily stated that "It will take some weeks to regain your pre-pregnancy shape". These kind of comments are particularly damaging as they are thrown in amongst more useful diet and fitness advice, thus fooling women into thinking that this is the norm.
The fact that we have to praise a new mum for not hiding the fact that her body has just given birth is disgusting - what kind of society allows the systematic pressurising of its citizens on such a grand scale? This pressure reaches far beyond post-natal women. Mimi Spencer lost 21 pounds when she went on the Intermittent Fasting programme and then wrote a best-selling book about it, along with Dr. Michael Mosley (who wrote and presented a BBC documentary about this and other types of fasting and how they made people healthier). Mimi now feels far more confident and content - she initially lost too much weight but now feels she has reached her ideal. In an article, she reveals that researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin have found out that a woman's weight affects her happiness more than her love life does. In other words, most women would rather be their ideal weight than happy in love.
According to the Channel 4 documentary "Alex Brooker: My Perfect Body", it is estimated that 2 out of 5 women are dieting at any one time. These depressing statistics do not just include women. The programme also revealed that 1/3 of men would give up a year of their life for the perfect body! I can't help but wonder which year - one where they are wearing an adult nappy and drooling at their slightly awkward and bored-looking relatives who only visit them in the care-home out of a sense of duty and a desire to be kept in the inheritance loop? Perhaps the year in which their voice broke, their nose grew alarmingly big and that snooty girl broke their heart by dating their best friend? Sadly, in the UK, 70% of men are ashamed of the way they look. Just think about that - 70%!! Of course, 30% of statistics are made up, so who knows what the real figure is - probably covered up by some serious support underwear....
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