Pregnant women banned in Vegas

Talk about hypocrisy!

Bravado, the manufacturer of cleverly designed breastfeeding bras, has recently run into some trouble when it comes to showing off their wares. Since 2008, the company has been entering trade shows in order to expand their market. Their 'booth' at the trade show features a runway with pregnant models wearing the bras. The 'models' however are not 'models' in the traditional sense; they are the company's typical customers at various stages of pregnancy. In an interview with the NYT, Kathryn From, chief executive of Bravado, noted that every so often a small percentage of people complain about their decision to feature pregnant women. Ironically, the company was recently prohibited from staging their runway show in Las Vegas at Blush Boutique Nightclub, owned by Wynn:

“We did not feel it appropriate to feature a very pregnant model in a nightclub, at midnight, where alcohol was being served,” Jennifer Dunne, a Wynn spokeswoman, wrote in a statement responding to questions. “Our team made a judgment call which we feel was correct given the environment and circumstance.”

In a city where day and night collide, where prostitution, gambling and inebriation are the orders of the day, one wonders how on earth a nightclub in the city of sin could possibly get on their high horse about a few pregnant women flogging some maternity bras.

I am consistently amazed by the ways in which pregnant bodies continue to cause moral panic in spite of the fact that it would appear that we are so inundated with naked female bodies in general.

Boobs and bras

Confused about maternity lingerie? Khali Whatley, our good friend at Ma Mere is on board to give you some advice and the chance to get a free copy of her guide to choosing the right undies.

By the way, have you entered the caption contest to win a free maternity set?

The importance of a good maternity and nursing bra

There’s so much to consider when you first fall pregnant that the last thing on your mind is your underwear. However most new mothers don’t realise that wearing a bra with an incorrect fit or support system can cause complications during the later parts of pregnancy and into the nursing period. Therefore the beginning of your pregnancy is an important time to make sure that you have the right bra.

During your first trimester a network of lymph glands and milk ducts will start to develop in your breasts and a well-fitted maternity bra can make sure this happens correctly. Its important to be aware that bra underwires can affect the development of these ducts and glands inhibiting circulation, causing discomfort and even leading to infection. Maternity and nursing bras don’t have underwires for this very reason.

So what’s the difference between a maternity and nursing bra?

When it comes to features, they are basically the same. The primary difference is that a nursing bra has clips that allow breastfeeding. If you buy a nursing bra at the beginning of your pregnancy thinking it will last you until after you finish breastfeeding you will probably be disappointed.

Most women’s breasts increase in size during pregnancy and increase again after their baby is born and mature milk is produced. Their ribcage also expands as their baby and belly grows larger and retracts again once the baby is born. These changes affect both the cup and band size – and therefore the bra that should be worn.

The lack of natural muscle support in the breast increases the chance of sagging or changes to the breast shape at this time, so the right bra can provide the necessary support to maintain your breast shape.

With all of this in mind, you should be prepared to purchase several different bra sizes during and after pregnancy. You’ll probably buy fewer maternity and nursing bras than regular bras, which means they will be washed more frequently and therefore stretch and wear out faster. Hand washing and line drying (in spite of care instructions to machine wash) will prolong their life and make sure you get the support you need.

Would you like more information? Send Khali an email for a free copy of her Guide to Maternity Lingerie: khali.whatley[at]mamere.com.au

Ma Mere and Baby Bump Project caption contest

Just when you thought that you couldn't possibly love The Baby Bump Project any more, lo and behold, I entice you with some more fun and frivolity.

Thanks to a fantastic new partnership with Ma Mere, an Australian online maternity lingerie store, my dear readers, you have the chance to win this gorgeous Blossom Gift Set (RRP $159).

What's the deal?
-All you have to do is caption the above photo. What is the pregnant model thinking and who wields power tools in their undies? The cleverest caption received between 1 August (today) and 11:59pm (UTC/GMT +10 hours) on 31 August will win the Blossom Gift set.

Is there a catch?
-In order for your entry to be eligible, you must be a fan of both The Baby Bump Project and Ma Mere on Facebook. Just type in each name in the search box on your Facebook home page and become a fan!

So what are you waiting for? Go forth and caption!

Sexy maternity lingerie: yawn?

New maternity lingerie just hitting stores called Cake. Not very inventive. The gals at Hot Milk have been doing this for awhile now. What annoys me the most is that women are supposed to feel 'empowered' by looking at images of sexed up preggos. I don't know about you, but I think this kind of sexualisation of women's bodies is just as problematic as it is for non-pregnant women. I'm not sure why maternity lingerie has gotten so hypersexualised. It almost feels like designers are obsessed with compensating for the fact that pregnant women have been asexualised for so long that now they are oversexualising them as if to force 'sexy' down our throats. Besides, the women in these types of catalogue images only reinforce the notion that pregnancy is attractive on certain women as long as their bellies are appropriately contained, tight and seemingly not 'fat'.

Thoughts?

Source: www.cakelingerie.com

'Sexy' pregnant mannequin too hot for North Yorkshire

A shopkeeper in North Yorkshire is being attacked by locals for displaying a pregnant mannequin (apparently named 'Emily') dressed in maternity lingerie at the front of her shop. The only store in the area to even sell maternity wear, Amanda Bere thought she was just merely showing off her wares to potential customers:

"It started with people looking in the window and making comments outside and they told me their points of view that they found it offensive. Other shop traders also told me that people were saying to them that it was offensive and that I should cover her up or move her. So I put a camisole on Emily and someone else made another comment, saying that they could still see the bump, so I put her in the corner of the shop away from the window."

I find this so interesting and it actually proves one of the points I've been trying to make in my work. Although it may seem as though pregnant celebrity nude portraits are published without fanfare or that we have all become so accustomed to seeing exposed pregnant bellies, a close examination of the reception of these images and of pregnant bodies in 'public' more generally, reveals that they are still controversial. In a similar example, in July 2007, New Zealand maternity lingerie company, Hot Milk, found itself at the centre of a controversy following the publication of their catalogue on the website of a retailer, Breastmates, featuring pregnant women wearing lacy bra and knickers sets.

I wrote about that here: http://babybumpproject.blogspot.com/2007/07/maternity-lingerie-is-apparently-soft.html

This was a fascinating ‘controversy’ and one that nicely illustrates the ambivalence about both the visibility and sexualisation of pregnant bodies.The fact that the catalogue images were associated with mainstream pornography suggests it was specifically pregnant bodies that were causing offense and not necessarily the marketing of the products or the products themselves. Whilst, catalogue images of non-pregnant women in lingerie are rarely deemed to be offensive or ‘soft porn’ because these images have been normalised in popular culture, pregnant women in ‘sexy’ lingerie were deemed offensive by virtue of the fact they were pregnant, ‘fat’, and ‘flaunting’ their sexuality. The same can be said about this pregnant mannequin.

Even Britney Spears’ Harpers Bazaar nude, pregnant photograph was censored, like Demi Moore’s portrait in 1991. When a giant poster of the singer was set to hang in one of Tokyo’s busiest railway stations, the ‘obscenity screening team’ decided the image would be ‘too stimulating’ for young viewers. Instead of banning the image altogether, Japanese metro authorities compromised by blackening out Spears’ belly. The magazine responded saying they were happy for the reversal in sentiment and that they were only trying to portray a ‘happy’ mother, not a sexually explicit image. Moreover, it was impossible to tell that Spears was pregnant; she just looked like a ‘chubby woman’.

So what does this all mean? As much as they hold the power to fascinate, pregnant bodies still hold the power to horrify, especially when they are ‘too sexy’ or ‘too fat’. In much of my work, I argue that the ambivalent reception of pregnant bodies has not necessarily changed in the 18 years since Demi Moore’s controversial magazine cover. Pregnant women have to invoke a number of strategies to present acceptable forms of maternal beauty if they want to ‘pass’ successfully in public. Quite often, visibly pregnant bodies, as with the case of 'Emily' the pregnant lingerie mannequin, are still highly problematic. They symbolise the ‘in-between’ areas that many cultures and enclaves of the world do not quite know how to manage.

Sources: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/north_yorkshire/7550134.stm