Our marginalization of pregnant women is overshadowing something far more dangerous than weight gain.
Medium.com, Editor’s Pick
Last week, OK! Magazine’s front page feature on “Kate’s Post-Baby Weight Loss Regime” — one day after her delivery — epitomized the insane and unhealthy expectations put upon pregnant women before and after baby. British women went understandably ballistic in response. TV presenter Katy Hill put her foot down and her shirt up to show off her post-baby bump, urging everyone to boycott the magazine using the hashtags #DontBuyOK, #bumps, #bodylove and #babyweight-gate.
Kim Kardashian and Jessica Simpson before her also got skewered in the press for—what nerve—gaining weight while pregnant! Media “experts” expressed “sincere” concern over how unhealthy this was for their babies. What? The media’s ire has nothing to do with health. And although weight gain does increase our risk for gestational diabetes and cesarean sections, being underweight is far more harmful to a baby.
Ironically, there is something even more dangerous and common during pregnancy that the media should focus on: murder.
Homicide during pregnancy is more common than some conditions pregnant women are routinely screened for, such as diabetes and pre-eclampsia, according to a recent study. Especially among African Americans and women under 20, who are at higher risk.
Read more at Medium.com https://medium.com/gender-justice-feminism/9caa593d0d48
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