Child bearing hips

I find that all to often we hear about how negatively the media effects young vulnerable minds and there perception of body image, but how often to hear how media effects the minds of new mothers.

I recently read an article in the Sunday mail where Mia freedman addressed how celebrities are all to ready to join the race of getting back to there pre baby body, competing with who can most WOW the world with their recovery. Which weight loss companies are endorsing and paying mothers to use there products/programs while gaining publicity in exchange.
What happened to the term "child bearing hips" being used as a compliment? What happened to the era where mothers wore there motherly figure with pride and were praised for it?

Now I'm not saying I'm willing to embrace my new curves and the way my body has morphed into that of a mother. But it has made me think about the unrealistic pressures I (and I'm sure many others) have put on myself in the first year of mummy hood . It brought me to think about how I had become almost obsessed with checking my weight and belly every chance I could get (as if i was just going to wake up one morning and be back to 'normal'). Even putting myself through the torture of trying to squeeze my size 12 hips into my size 6 jeans. It is in fact largely thanks to the magical transformations all over the media that had warped my perception of reality.  And these 'transformations' end up leaving mothers greatly Ill-informed. They very rarely describe how hard they (celebrities) have worked and how much they have sacrificed in order to look that way.

The pressures this creates is an unnecessary addition to the concerns mothers already have with image. I for example worry about the image I portray as a mother in my day to day appearance. I have substituted short skirts for comfy leggings (even as formal attire) and low cut tops for something convent like. Although this is largely due to practicality, there are a lot of instances where I worry i may not be taken seriously as mother if I were to dress more to my age.

 

 

Funnily enough I Can relate this to a few weeks ago when a fellow mummy friend and I were organizing a baby free night on the town this coming weekend and in the process of planning the event we fell upon the topic of "what shall we wear?". Now although this is a fairly common thing many girls plan before a big night out, as mothers it takes a different rout. We do not discuss latest fashions nor looking sexy. The discussion partly revolves around the battle of dressing our age but still being respected as a mum. Like any girl there is the goal of looking good, feeling proud of ourself as well as feeling somewhat attractive (without giving the impression we are looking to 'hook up').

This is where media's reflection of new mothers fits in. Added to all these things I find myself wanting to 'wow' people with how amazing I look after having my daughter. Not only that but I fear people I see judge me for not recovering as quickly as everyone they have seen (in tabloids).

And with that I leave you with a snippet from Mia Freeman's article 'Baby, what a body'

"Pity then that this comparison takes place on a subliminal level without direct input from us. Somehow, maddeningly, all this body-after-baby nonsense has seeped into our collective consciousness and recalibrated our ideas about What To Expect Immediately After You’ve Finished Expecting."

http://www.mamamia.com.au/parenting/this-whole-post-baby-body-caper-is-morally-dodgy-and-a-little-bit-weird/