Naked pregnant belly causes frenzy in North Dakota

Just when you think that baby bumps really are the new black, it only takes a few folks in North Dakota to shock you into the reality that naked pregnant bellies are not as swish, hot and happening as we would like to think (or maybe just me).

According to the editor of The Forum, this picture caused quite a stir for the readers of last Sunday's edition. As the humble denizens of North Dakota perused their weekend news, it seems a few folks nearly choked on their cornflakes when they saw a blooming belly staring them in the face.

Among the reactions:

“I’m shocked you would run that photo, let alone on the front page,” one woman caller said Monday morning.

“There are just some things best seen only by a woman and her doctor,” remarked another man.

Is it a generational thing or are there really people out there who find pregnancy inappropriate?

We all bang on about how 'mainstream' pregnant bellies have become, how pregnancy is finally out of the closet and how much easier it is to be out and proud...yet, the humble folk of North Dakota think Demi Moore is a maternal minion of hell for burning our retinas with that photo and ushering in an era of tight maternity tops and pregnant silhouettes.

Are preggo gals in North Dakota still wearing pinafores and oversized bows, puffy sleeves and Peter Pan collars?

Source: http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=176250§ion=Columnists&columnist=Matt%20Von%20Pinnon

Chinese mums to be bare their bellies

This is an intriguing photo of Chinese women baring all in a pregnant belly colouring contest of sorts that you would be more likely to expect to come out of America (after all, there are pregnant beauty/bikini contests all over the US!)

"Mostly born in the late 1970s or the early 1980s, these women have never missed an opportunity to show off their natural beauty, even when they're pregnant," a cameraman said.

This image actually surprises me because from my own research into maternity wear, Asian cultures tend to view a naked pregnant belly more conservatively. When I was looking at maternity clothes in Japan, for example, I noticed that women are still relegated to covering up their bellies for the most part. Maternity frocks are more pinafore than plunging and you are more likely to find tops with puppies and kittens over tight and Lycra. None of the maternity magazines show exposed pregnant bodies/bellies and the majority of the information is illustrated with cartoons. Since I started this research I have been under the impression that publicly pregnant bodies are still very taboo in a number of Asian cultures, however, this must quite apparently be changing given this image of Chinese women. Moreover, I do get alot of Asian readers on this blog (mostly Singapore, Japan, China, Malaysia) which indicates that there is a similar level of interest and/or fascination with baby bumps and pregnancy weight gain which I suppose does not necessarily surprise me given the global nature of the mass media.

I find the cameraman's comment above interesting as well. He implies that because the women are of a certain generation, they are more 'liberal' perhaps in their views about exposing their pregnant bellies in public; that somehow women in their mid-late 20s are exhibitionists in a way that their mothers and grandmothers are not. The use of 'even when they're pregnant' also suggests that despite the cultural sentiment that women should hide their bellies, these younger women clearly are challenging social mores but are behaving almost as expected of their generation.

Source: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-07/27/content_5445064.htm