# Are pregnant bellies a private part? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 21, 2004, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pregnant-bellies-a-private-part/256199 "2004-07-21T16:34:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Elret](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Elret](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elret)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2004, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pregnant-bellies-a-private-part/256199/1 "2004-07-21T16:34:39Z")
I was reading some old People magazines today, and in one issue several pictures of pregnant celebrities were printed, including a couple of Kate Hudson wearing clothes that bared her pregnant tummy. In the next issue, someone had written a rather heated letter talking about how tasteless Kate was for having dressed in such a way. Is this a common feeling? Is a pregnant stomach considered vulgar? ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2004, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pregnant-bellies-a-private-part/256199/2 "2004-07-21T16:38:54Z")
Yeas they are!! By the same people who find bikinis offensive. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2004, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pregnant-bellies-a-private-part/256199/3 "2004-07-21T16:49:09Z")
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Then again, in this case some may be offended by the belly of the beast. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Earthworm\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f07891/32.png) [@Earthworm\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthworm_Jim)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2004, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pregnant-bellies-a-private-part/256199/4 "2004-07-21T16:58:44Z")
Is there a part of the body that **isn’t** conisdered vulgar by some small, yet vocal, group of people? We need to have “National Naked Week” or something. ---
**Author:** ![AngelicGemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2004, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pregnant-bellies-a-private-part/256199/5 "2004-07-21T17:16:41Z")
It’s a very old fashined view, which is sadly still held by some people. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2004, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pregnant-bellies-a-private-part/256199/6 "2004-07-21T17:19:04Z")
Yay, pregnant bellies! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2004, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pregnant-bellies-a-private-part/256199/7 "2004-07-21T17:38:03Z")
Well, they’re a private part in the sense that one musn’t go around patting them without permission, but not in the sense that it’s indecent to expose them. ---
**Author:** ![belladonna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9fc29f/32.png) [@belladonna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/belladonna)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2004, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pregnant-bellies-a-private-part/256199/8 "2004-07-21T17:38:52Z")
I’m not a small girl, and my belly is usually one of my least favorite body parts. But when I was pregnant? I was so proud of it! It was firm, and smooth, and felt so damn _purposeful_, and even sexy in a weird, fertile way. I liked showing it off, and I think it’s great that women can do so nowadays without getting shit for it, for the most part. I agree that the vulgar-belly attitude is a throwback to the times when proper women weren’t to be seen outside \*at all \* once their “condition” became apparent. It will be a happy day when the last dinosaur holding these notions drops off into the historical ether… ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2004, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pregnant-bellies-a-private-part/256199/9 "2004-07-21T18:06:19Z")
> [@Beelzebubba](#): > > We need to have “National Naked Week” or something. Great idea! I decline to participate, but for aesthetic reasons rather than moral ones. The rest of you…go right ahead! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2004, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pregnant-bellies-a-private-part/256199/10 "2004-07-21T18:13:41Z")
Vulgar? No. But I have to say I personally don’t like looking at them, though I have to stop myself from staring sometimes. Perhaps it’s to do with the fact that at the moment I emphatically do _not_ want children and maybe they scare me a little because of that. Please don’t take this to mean that I feel they shouldn’t be exposed. Pregnant women may of course expose as little or as much of themselves as they feel like. It’s just a personal thing of mine that I thought I would throw in somewhat irrelevantly. ---
**Author:** ![monica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@monica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monica)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2004, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pregnant-bellies-a-private-part/256199/11 "2004-07-21T19:08:28Z")
They’re a beautiful symbol of the miracle of life. ---
**Author:** ![trupa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@trupa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trupa)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2004, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pregnant-bellies-a-private-part/256199/12 "2004-07-21T20:51:56Z")
> [@CrazyCatLady](#): > > Well, they’re a private part in the sense that one musn’t go around patting them without permission, but not in the sense that it’s indecent to expose them. When Mrs Trupa was preggers, we both agreed that unsollicited belly patting was impolite & intrusive, so I firmly resolved to grab the ass of anyone who would pat her belly uninvited. This would provide an excellent teaching moment about violating body space. 😛 Never had to resort to it, though… ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2004, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pregnant-bellies-a-private-part/256199/13 "2004-07-21T21:09:49Z")
Quite so. Mrs.Wang-Ka still speaks with considerable venom of the unwashed hordes of complete strangers who would walk up to her with little or no preamble and grab her by her protruding stomach. Private, it ain’t. Or so it seems. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2004, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pregnant-bellies-a-private-part/256199/14 "2004-07-21T21:28:16Z")
The belly touching is the main reason I am SO glad I didn’t really look pregnant. I got irritated with people I talk to online “rubbing my belly” I can only think I would’ve hit someone who tried it irl. I really think why people get uptight about baring the belly when pregnant is the whole idea of “You’re going to be a MOTHER you can’t do THAT!” I do admit when I see someone wearing skimpy clothing and are obviously pregnant I get a moment of snarkiness in my mind, but then I mentally smack myself. Their body, their clothing. Of course I also feel you can get some really nice clothing that flatters the pregnant body now too. You don’t need to wear the tents or let it all (and I do mean all) hang out. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2004, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pregnant-bellies-a-private-part/256199/15 "2004-07-21T21:45:19Z")
I have to admit I’d find it a little odd to see a pregnant woman walking around town in a spaghetti strap midriff but I wouldn’t find it offensive. Some people just need things to bitch about. ---
**Author:** ![LolaBaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@LolaBaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LolaBaby)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2004, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pregnant-bellies-a-private-part/256199/16 "2004-07-21T21:48:23Z")
People used to rub my belly when I was pregnant. Of course, I knew them. Needless to say I wouldn’t allow them to do the same thing if it was elsewhere. Now if they came up to me NOW and rubbed my belly they might lose a hand. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![FaerieBeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e95f7d/32.png) [@FaerieBeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FaerieBeth)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2004, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pregnant-bellies-a-private-part/256199/17 "2004-07-21T22:05:00Z")
I certainly don’t mind seeing the belly of a pregnant woman. I didn’t show mine, though, because I developed some stretch marks early in my pregnancy. I, also, am puzzled by the motivation of anyone who’d liken it to exposing one’s private parts. Um…isn’t this the same society dressing it’s grade-school age girls like…:: sigh :: I won’t go there, this is not the thread for it. To refocus on the OP: Bellies are okay in my book. I will never touch, though, and I call down a punishment from the heavens on people(strangers mainly or remote acquaintances) who will walk up to pregnant women and rub their bellies without invitation to do so! FB ---
**Author:** ![35340](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/8baadc/32.png) [@35340](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/35340)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pregnant-bellies-a-private-part/256199/18 "2004-07-22T01:30:19Z")
> [@belladonna](#): > > It will be a happy day when the last dinosaur holding these notions drops off into the historical ether… Hey, that’s my **mom** yer talking about there! 😉 Anyhoo … No, I don’t mind the belly styles, like anything else, when done right. I had the lovely belly “waddle” which is basically a waddle of skin under the belly so I never really got that “lovely pregnant” look. But when done in flattering styles? Stick it out! Wearing a shirt because you like it even if it bunches up over your belly and looks like crap? No. Now that I’ve had the kid, I wish I’d let more people pat the belly. Then maybe they’d keep their germy hands to themselves now. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pregnant-bellies-a-private-part/256199/19 "2004-07-22T02:04:10Z")
I find the sight of a bared, protruding belly, pregnant or not, _very_ off-putting. I recognize, however, this is my hang-up and would never dream of writing a letter to the editor of a magazine describing a picture of such as tasteless. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pregnant-bellies-a-private-part/256199/20 "2004-07-22T06:53:50Z")
Probably the same people who complain about women breast-feeding in public. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pregnant-bellies-a-private-part/256199.md?page=2)