Pregnant woman 'flaunts' bump? Enough already!
We’ve spotted this phrase in the media over and over again – and, quite frankly, we're a bit tired of it
When it comes to sniffing out pregnant celeb stories or other newsworthy parenting stuff, we’ve pretty much got it covered here at MFM HQ. We'll spend our early mornings researching all things pregnancy and baby-related and, if it's out there, we'll probably find it.
And, while we're looking, what we definitely see – A LOT – is that phrase, you know – “Here's so-and-so flaunting her bump" at some fancy bash or whatever. And we've decided we really don’t like it.
We reckon ‘flaunting’, along with its tabloid pregnancy cousin 'showing off', has some pretty negative connotations – it’s like you’re bragging, or shoving something in people’s faces. But when it comes to being pregnant, what exactly are we supposed to do? Pop our bump in our handbag or leave it round a friend’s house while we go out for dinner or to a party?
Just in case we're frothing about this unnecessarily, we asked our MFM forum users and Facebook followers what they think about 'flaunting' and 'showing off' bumps.
Some of you didn't mind 'showing off' so much: "It's the most exciting period of your life. Why not 'show it off'?" said one mum on Facebook. "It's not like you can hide a big bump anyway! I was very proud of my bump."
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But many other don't like either too much – and especially not the 'flaunt' word. "I'm not sure I like the word 'flaunt'," posted one mum. "It implies showing off. I don't hide mine but I don't go out of my way to make people notice it."
We do feel that to say someone's 'flaunting' their bump or 'showing it off' makes it sound as though we've just bought a 3-grand Prada bag we can't stop swinging. But our baby bump is part and parcel of our pregnant body, so it's kind of like saying, there goes David Beckham flaunting his nose or his knees or – well, you get the gist...
So, tabloid journos, PLEASE learn this lesson from us: we’re not ‘flaunting our bumps’; we’re just walking around getting on with our lives – and we happen to be pregnant.
Rant over.
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Authors
Tara is mum to 1 daughter, Bodhi Rae, and has worked as Content Editor and Social Media Producer at MadeForMums since 2015
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