13/08/2025
Being pregnant is odd - my body is absolutely none of any one else’s business, and yet when it visibly changes people somehow feel even more of a need to comment on it.
I see it as a sign of a society which has fundamentally lost touch with ourselves, what feels good and right for our bodies. I see it as a symptom of a people who have lost trust in our own inner knowing.
It feels like we fundamentally don’t think people (especially women) can make the choices that are right for them.
“You shouldn’t be running, you’re pregnant.”
“You shouldn’t be lifting weights in your condition.”
“The baby doesn’t like it when you do that.”
“You’re getting fat.”
“Homebirth isn’t a safe choice.”
“You must be having a girl because you look pregnant from the back.” (My reply: that’s just my enlarging arse)
I get it, people are generally well-meaning and/or concerned. But letting these comments slide, “not letting it bother me” feels like perpetuating something with which I am, on a cellular level, not ok with.
I know my body. I listen to it. I have spent a lot of time attuning and tuning in. Running felt good, until it didn’t. So that’s when I stopped.
But people who make these comments probably don’t trust their own bodies and decisions, ergo how can they trust someone else’s?
But that’s all a bit much to go into on the street after an off-hand comment, isn’t it?
