The Shape of a Mother

We've all seen pictures of famous women after they've had a baby looking slim and perfect in record time. Frankly, I'm sick of it. I admit, I know a few people whose bodies seemed to bounce back quickly after giving birth too. Further investigation almost always reveals boob jobs, tummy tucks, crash diets and personal trainers. If we all know women who have kids usually end up with stretch marks, flabby tummies that won't go away no matter how many crunches we do and wider hips, why does the media keep shoving these false images of newly minted, perfect moms down our throats? My theory? To sell us products, send us to the gym and doctors, make us buy stretch mark creams and ab crunchers, and encourage the men in our lives to push us to these things if we don't already feel bad enough about the way we look. Let's face it, if everyone accepted their bodies, and felt good about themselves, a huge market would dry up overnight. Making women believe normal is this plastic, Barbie doll, fake perfection is what helps marketers sell their products.

I did a quick Google search on post-baby bodies and only one image result showed a woman with a realistic post-baby tummy (Julia Roberts, who was being picked on in the accompanying article for being a fat cow). Every other image showed a model-actress-singer striking a sexy pose in a revealing outfit, face trained in a look designed to make us believe she wasn't paid a fortune to pretend she really looked like this with no help from anything but good genes, mere days after having her baby.

Here are some examples:

At least she has thighs.  But, size two? I haven't been a size two since I was seven.

At least this actress admits she was paid for this gig and says it took a solid year of working out to get this shape. But, doesn't anyone really believe those airbrushed abs are real? Like most of these articles on-line, the magazines don't allow readers to comment. They know we'd all be crying foul.

I saw Heidi walk down the VS runway two months after giving birth too. So, why the need to airbrush her perfect abs for ads for her jeans? I laughed reading her thoughts on motherhood, and getting your body back, because she said (reading between the lines here), "If you didn't have a strut-your-ass-down-a-runway-practically-naked body before you had a baby, you won't have one after giving birth either." At least she's semi-honest.

For those of you who, like me, prefer to keep it real, check out this nifty website, The Shape of a Mother where you can see real images of real women post baby. It's a much needed reality check for normal moms everywhere.  Bravo and it's about time.