Why women shouldn't call themselves ‘fat’ when they’re pregnant
‘There’s a distinct difference in the way my body is received by those around me when I’m pregnant versus when I’m just fat’
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Your support makes all the difference.A plus-size blogger has criticised pregnant women who refer to themselves as “fat”, describing it as “cringe” when slim women condemn themselves for “feeling fat” when they are heavily pregnant.
Marie Southard Ospina, who is currently pregnant with her second child, explained that there are vast discrepancies between how people respond to her curvy figure when she is pregnant and when she isn’t.
Writing for Cafe Mom, the writer and editor recalled how a sales assistant recently asked to touch her pregnant stomach:
“Having one’s belly felt up by perfect strangers is likely a peculiar sensation for most expectant moms, but as a fat and pregnant person, I find it even stranger,” she writes, likening the experience to being heckled in public.
Ospina reveals how - prior to falling pregnant - she has been subject to severe discrimination for her size, with sales assistants and doctors shaming her.
However, she writes that this completely changes when she falls pregnant, the reason for which she likens to slim women who “chastise themselves for ‘feeling fat’ as their bodies grow rounder and more obviously pregnant”.
She continues to make clear disparities between perceptions of a pregnant body compared to an overweight body, describing that while the former is “cause for celebration”, the latter makes her subject to harassment in public, “medical mistreatment” and “endless cultural judgement”.
“To occupy too much space in a world that doesn’t believe you should is not comparable to being bloated, or tired, or pregnant,” she writes.
Ospina adds that she knows she will be treated differently once her child is born, describing the world as a “much kinder place” when she is pregnant.
“This doesn’t mean that pregnant women shouldn’t get real about their experiences,” she continues, urging women not to underestimate how taxing the nine months of pregnancy can be.
“We just don’t have to tear down entire groups of people while we’re doing it,” she concludes.
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