The Glorification of Pregnancy by Media should stop!

Since childhood, I’ve watched many Bollywood movies. Some were about motherhood and pregnancy. Throughout the movie, I heard, “Pregnancy and Motherhood is the most important and beautiful aspect of a woman’s life.” The depiction of pregnancy in Bollywood is always around, a young couple finding out they will become parents, and both of them are happy, the actress is shown with a bump sometimes munching on some cravings, and just like that 9 months are passed.  A very light scene showcasing the actor in labor, the acting doesn’t justify to actual labor and delivery process. But anyway, a child is born, it’s a boy, they name him Aryan, Aman or some very common boy name and life moves on.

Unfortunately, if you are just like all men think pregnancy is like this. Then sit down, you have a lot to learn about…Now, why is a young 20-year-old thinking about pregnancy you may ask?

Well, women are conditioned and groomed their entire life by their mothers for their ultimate aim (acc to mothers): reproduction. From the time she gets her first period to her marriage, mothers have a huge role to play in conditioning women to be future mothers. In fact, some mothers and pop culture glamorize pregnancy to such an extent that some women’s actual dream is to have kids, which again isn’t wrong but what I cannot fathom is nobody talks about the REAL PREGNANCY EXPERIENCE.

Pregnancy is often highlighted as a beautiful procedure when in reality, it's countless mornings of nausea, sickness, absolute mood swings, and hormonal changes. As if periods weren’t enough to destroy our mental and physical well-being. Being pregnant makes sure that whatever livelihood is left in you is shed to pieces. My mother would elaborately tell me stories of when she was pregnant with me and the pain she went through to bring me into this world. On one hand, I’m thankful to her but on the other, If I was her, I’d never do that to myself and my body. Not to mention the other physical dangers of getting pregnant like gaining an excess amount of weight, losing chunks of hair, or other problems in the uterus.

I never quite understood why a woman would put herself through all that while men just enjoy their lives? As a girl in her dating era, I’ve met many men on social media that proudly put “wants to have a baby” in their bio.  To cross them, these men have no idea about how pregnancy works or basic female anatomy. I doubt, these men are fit to be good fathers but they just like the thrill of it. I quite often highlighted the experience of pregnancy to these men and much to my surprise they push it under the rug claiming it as a “rare case.” These men think pregnancy is everyone’s cup of tea and like playing ping pong.

Then there are some creeps and lowlife that cheat on their pregnant wife. I never get such people. How can you let your wife go through all this and then suddenly get attracted to another woman? Men often find their wives unattractive after she has given birth? Maybe because they stop sexualizing her like they used to, and she kind off reminds them of his own mother, or because she’s not attractive like she used to be. If you as a man have this mentality, please never reproduce. These men get their representation of pregnancy from media that showcase half-baked truth. Gender Sensitivity and Sex Education are the need of the hour.

Sometimes, I just sit and think that why women have to go through this burden of periods and pregnancy. I mean look at the male gender, such a creepy and shameful gender, why don’t they face this wrath, that will be enough to keep their penis in their pants. There needs to be a campaign by the government to educate men and encourage them to use contraception and make them understand the horrors of birth control pills. I’ve met some men in my life that frown upon using condoms by saying, “If you wash your hands with gloves, your hands won’t get clean.” To such men, I want to say, EW GET OFF ME!