you have got to be kidding.

Seriously, I need to stop having these 'only in America' moments. Apparently, the ABC (an American network) is premiering a new mid-season replacement television series (12 April) called 'Notes from the Underbelly'. This is a show aiming for a humourous take on the 'politics of pregnancy' as a young couple (Andrew and Lauren) have just found out they are pregnant and can't keep it a secret in the first episode. On the official series webpage, it notes that Andrew will be narrating the episode "giving his wry and often sarcastic interpretation of the events that are going on around him". Isn't that interesting how the man gets to tell the pregnancy story? I mean how many more times do we need to hear just how 'hard' it is for men to 'deal' with their pregnant wives? Gosh guys, it's really pretty labour intensive for you to haul yourself to all of those o/b appointments (because god forbid, any network would even consider showing an alternative form of prenatal care) and laughing to yourself about your wife's cravings, mood swings and weight gain. Ha. ha. Ha. I mean are you the one who has to create new life at the same time you are carrying out your own? Is this really comedy? Saying that pregnancy is harder than parenthood is such an overblown and old stereotype. Keep it coming. It's like Blah blah.. Pregnancy is so hard. Men have it so tough...blah blah.. Women 'lose' their bodies forever. Andrew even "has to deal with the fact that (*shock* horror!!) Lauren may be getting stretch marks, but Andrew has to pretend that he doesn't notice them". Yeah because Im sure she is so insecure that all of her self-esteem is enmeshed in what her husband thinks of her pregnant body and if he even mentioned that he noticed a mark their entire relationship would be ruined. Kind of reminds me about the so often overplayed 'Do I look fat in this?'-woman-in a dressing room-with bored out of his mind boyfriend- who has to pander to his girlfriend's insecurity about her own looks. Boys, we can feel insecure all on our own without your help, thank you.

Can you believe this absolute crap? I'm sure the actress playing the pregnant part will have a nice little contained 'bump' strapped on to her waiflike Hollywood hyper-feminine figure and look perfect throughout the series. Im sure some hot designer maternity wear will be prominently displayed for all of the 'average' American mothers to look at and want to cry. And you know what the worst part about this whole show is? I actually want to watch it....but damn it, living in Australia we don't get anything until a freaking year after it airs so I will have to read the reviews and gently coax my mother in America into watching it for me...

Oh and just a random fact, the actor playing the character 'Eric' (Sunkrish Bala, the first guy in the picture from the left), another expectant father who is friends with Andrew, was also on Grey's Anatomy playing the one night stand that Meredith picks up at Joe's bar, only to find that he um..can't lose his excitement for her..literally...the next morning when he shows up to the hospital. I can't get that scene out of my head when I look at him now.

This is the website for the show:

http://abc.go.com/primetime/notesfromtheunderbelly/index?pn=about

skinny jean/skinny pregnancy

This is a great view from Liz Lange maternity wear. I posted about LL back in December when I was doing some research in New York. It just so happened that as I was flicking through the channels, I came upon a show about famous American business people and Liz was one of the panelists, revealing the secrets of her multi million dollar maternity fashion house. Now Liz Lange is bringing high fashion to the masses by dressing pregnant women across America in Target stores in a sort of democratisation of maternity wear. Now people that buy LL maternity wear from her stores know that high style does not come cheaply...until now. The pieces produced for Target stores (as you can see in the video) are beautifully presented, clean cut and sold at a much lower price point than in typical LL retail stores. However, in watching the video, I got the sense that although Lange is now dressing a wide range of American women, she still has the middle-upper class mother in mind. I mean Lange says 'Every baby needs to have these cashmere blankets...Hello? I can't afford cashmere for myself. How many women out there are actually splurging on luxury items for babies outside of NYC??

Also, in her ode to the 'skinny jean' at the start of the program, I kept thinking to myself, 'How many women do you see at Target buying skinny jeans even when they are not pregnant?' Surely, it's a good look for a pregnant model and if your legs don't change size because all of your weight gain is concentrated in one area. This just contributes to my theory about the cult of the skinny pregnancy (and this is especially prominent in NY and LA) where women can still be a size 0 even when they're pregnant.* Lange actually mentioned in the TV show I was watching in NY that they had to start making smaller sizes to cater to the 'petite' woman. I've actually been told of similar trends happening here in Melbourne by a few popular designers (such that certain high fashion, high fitness preggos are requiring their size 0s even during the pregnancy and are being forced to have certain items of clothing custom made as a result). Am I crazy? Does anyone think skinny jeans are just the slighest bit ridiculous when you are trying to grow another human being? Who wants to shove their body into denim (that is already uncomfortable when you're not pregnant) albeit 'skinny' leg denim after consistently putting on weight for 9 months?

It's like imprisonment for your bump. Women's bodies are forced to be contained enough just in normal life. Why corral the pregnant body into more restrictive clothing just because the rest of our culture is so freaked out by women taking up space (and that goes for overweight women as well)?

*In saying this, I'm not trying to say that all women need to gain heaps of weight in pregnancy in order to be 'real' pregnant women or to have an 'authentic' experience. Sure, there are women out there who don't gain much weight, are naturally a size 0 and have nothing to be ashamed of. That's fine, more power to them. I'm making a statement about the majority of the women in the world who are on average a size 12-14 even before they are pregnant and who haven't worn skinny jeans since the 7th grade (and even then, it wasn't really a good look).