- The Tragedy of the ‘Yummy Mummy’ Myth
- January 2008
Today when a woman gets the joyful (hopefully) news that she is pregnant, it comes with the unspoken warning ‘beware pregnancy and childbirth can leave you fat and ugly’. Modern women are increasingly striving to keep within the unwritten boundaries of what is considered acceptable weight gain and, more worryingly, the timeframe for it’s subsequent loss.
An enlarged abdomen, breasts and other parts of the body all form part of natures plan; which is to create the most favourable physical conditions possible for both mother and baby. Recently, natural weight gain, particularly in areas other than the abdomen and breasts, have become the basis for apprehension and unease. It is easy to see why when you take into account the media’s growing obsession with the pre and post pregnancy bodies of celebrities.
Rather than focusing on the physical and mental well-being of both mother and child, the media instead focus on celebrity ‘Yummy Mummies’. e.g. in the news this week. ‘Borat's Isla is a yummy mummy…..Slender Isla has squeezed back into her tiny jeans in three weeks!’ . Those who successfully lose their ‘baby weight’ and return to normal, often within an unhealthily short timescale, are applauded, while those who are deemed failures are publicly ridiculed.
"The message is that, after having children, women's bodies change for the worse”…...[ Diana Zuckerman]
In her blog Stroller Derby, Karen Murphy, a mother of four makes a compelling argument against post pregnancy related surgery.
"Those badges of motherhood have turned into badges of shame and, if you're the one caught without a tummy tuck, then you won't get invited to the party…it peeves me no end that something as drastic as surgery, this blatant non acceptance of one’s own body in whatever shape it happens to be in, has become so pervasive."
The Yummy mummy’ phenomenon is not just confined to the west, it is rapidly spreading around the world
“ Mumbai’s mothers are not only cradling their kids with glee, but also flaunting taut abs, firm breasts and contoured bodies after a ‘mum job’….
The new-age mummy wants more… much more, even if it means going under the knife to erase the undesirable effects of pregnancy and childbirth”. [ Kareena N Gianani]
The message is loud and clear; it is also by its very nature extremely destructive.
Recent research of 1,300 mums by Bounty (parenting club) has found that a woman’s self confidence hits an all time low after having a baby. One in two new mums admitted to feeling depressed by the way they look. A disheartening 73% felt in need of a makeover. 60% said that celebrities made them feel inadequate while 42% stated that magazines made them feel less confident about their appearance.
The tragedy of the ‘yummy mummy’ myth is that the pregnant and postpartum body is now compared with beautiful, perfectly made up, immaculate dressed celebrity mums. Such comparisons inevitably lead women to conclude that they fall far short of the required standard; a conclusion which plays a part in body dissatisfaction and the decision of an increasing number to ‘go under the knife’.
Women need to remember that woman naturally differ in the amount of weight that is gained during pregnancy, where weight is deposited and how quickly they will be able to lose it. Lifestyle also plays a fundamental part. Comparisons are therefore meaningless and often dangerous.