 'How far along are you?' a friend of a friend asked me at a party recently. When I replied 'six months', I was met with the response: 'Well, you look much bigger.' How am I supposed to take that? It's not complimentary. In fact, it's body shaming. Every bump, just like every pregnancy, is unique. And my pregnant body is not here for your feedback. It made me feel really uncomfortable, and later, angry. The incident got me thinking: when I look back at my life now, I realise that – as a woman – my weight has been a topic of conversation since I was born. I've been called both too large and too tiny – and I'm tired of it. As the second child of two adoring parents, I entered the world in 1987. At 7lb 13oz, I was considered a larger baby. As a toddler learning about food, I honed in on what I loved, which was fresh fruit, vegetables and my mum's home cooked meals. Family friends and total strangers would ask my parents when I would 'lose the puppy fat'. Naturally, my body changed over time. At primary school, I was a short, average girl. Then, in the blink of an eye, I was a teenager, who was heavily bullied by classmates and criticised for being 'too thin' and 'too skinny'. Family friends and total strangers would ask my parents when I would 'lose the puppy fat' (Picture: Ruth Barrett) I ended up moving schools to escape the bullying. It was clear that whatever size I was, the discussion of my body was a free-for-all – and trying to obtain one that was 'perfect' was a losing battle. After a long-term relationship ended in my thirties, I was barely sleeping, with no real appetite for food, stressed and underweight. People then started commenting on my supposed 'glow up', telling me that I looked 'incredible'. I shrugged it off to avoid a scene, but it made me feel really sad to think that at my lowest point, people were more concerned with how I looked than how I was feeling. W){kind=link}
NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
‘How far along are you?’ a friend of a friend asked me at a party recently.
When I replied ‘six months’, I was met with the response: ‘Well, you look much bigger.’
How am I supposed to take that? It’s not complimentary. In fact, it’s body shaming.
Every bump, just like every pregnancy, is unique. And my pregnant body is not here for your feedback.