When it comes to a pregnant womans size, ladies, please just shut the hell up.

New rule:

No more commenting on a pregnant woman's physical appearance.

If my wife comes home with one more story of some idiot woman (and yes, it is always a woman) commenting on her size, I'm going to personally hunt that woman down and compose a treatise on every one of her physical imperfections.

Most recent was the woman in Starbucks who asked Elysha how many weeks along she was and then remarked that even when she was pregnant with twins, she didn't think she was ever that big.

The woman should be forbidden from ever entering a Starbucks again. She probably shouldn't be allowed in public anymore. 

But there have been plenty of others.

There was the woman who asked Elysha if she is much larger during this pregnancy than her previous one.

There are the hordes of attention-seeking narcissists who love to tell pregnant women about how little weight they gained during their own pregnancies and how quickly and easily they shed those extra few pounds after the delivery.

There are the women who mistake pregnant women for walking, talking carnival games, trying to guess how far along they are and always guessing too far.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Elysha averages about one insensitive comment per week, and these can come from friends, coworkers, family members and even complete strangers, who for reasons that escape me see a pregnant woman and feel the need to immediately engage in conversation.

My advice:

Just shut the hell up. All of you. Stop commenting on a pregnant woman's physical appearance completely. I'd like to say that compliments are still permitted, but I feel like you've exercised such poor judgment already that you cannot be trusted to offer a compliment without accidentally insulting the woman at the same time. 

So just shut up completely.

And yes, I am certain that in all of human history, men have made these type of dumbass comments as well, but of the eight recently pregnant women who I polled over the past two days, all reported that comments like these, while entirely too frequent, are never made by men.

Men learned a long time ago to never comment on a woman's size.

Take a page from our playbook, ladies, and shut the hell up.

Seriously.

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Published on March 15, 2012 02:57
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message 1: by Lisa (new)

Lisa Matthew, maybe YOU have learned not comment, but...um..."Men learned a long time ago to never comment on a woman's size." is perhaps the least accurate generalization you've ever thrown out there. Men make constant comments to women about every aspect of their appearance. From yelling "fatass" at women on the street to asking about "filling out", body shaming is rife, and it's rife among both genders. I get that you are upset on your wife's behalf, and I agree completely--her body is nobody's business--but please don't pretend that it's boys against girls here because there is plenty of body shaming being done to women, pregnant or not. You are just sensitive to one type of body shaming that is going on in your life right now, but trust me, it's everywhere.


message 2: by Matthew (new)

Matthew Dicks Fair enough. I may have written out of annoyance rather than enlightened perspective.

But when it comes to pregnancy, it would seem that this is more of a woman problem. JUST TODAY two women made comments to my wife that were less than kind. TWO. TODAY!


message 3: by Lisa (new)

Lisa You could be right about pregnant women and having it come from more from other women. Maybe we should get her a maternity top that says "STFU."

Congratulations to you both on your future arrival.

Anyway, get back to writing and don't mess with debate with me because I'm looking forward to your next book. ;-) :-)


message 4: by Matthew (new)

Matthew Dicks Yes, boss. The next book comes out in August.


message 5: by Erica (new)

Erica I had my first pregnancy in the south (Gainesville, FL). People certainly weren't very rude, but they did seem to view my pregnancy as a public event. I am still amazed at how many total strangers would touch my stomach, and then ask if I minded if they touch my stomach. I believe it was more of a let-me-share-your-good-luck thing than it was a I-got-to-touch-the-freakin'-huge-lady thing. However, shall we just say, I am from the north.
I do wish you and your wife all the happiness in the world. Having kids was more fabulous than I ever imagined (though not without pain and suffering, of course).


message 6: by Matthew (new)

Matthew Dicks Thanks so much, Erica. Much appreciated.


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