# Professional pictures of pregnant women with minimal clothing - Is this mainstream now? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 11, 2011, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-pictures-of-pregnant-women-with-minimal-clothing-is-this-mainstream-now/581567 "2011-05-11T21:20:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Strainger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strainger/32/244_2.png) [@Strainger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strainger)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-pictures-of-pregnant-women-with-minimal-clothing-is-this-mainstream-now/581567/21 "2011-05-12T06:11:30Z")
Yuck. It’s bad enough when celebrities do it. Anyone on my friends list who does this will no longer be on my friends list. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-pictures-of-pregnant-women-with-minimal-clothing-is-this-mainstream-now/581567/22 "2011-05-12T06:23:01Z")
> [@Meyer6](#): > > I cannot imagine the world in which my mother would have put a nude photo of herself up on the living room wall. The average teenager is embarrassed enough about their parents as it is! I know a five week old growing up in a home with a nude picture of his mother on the wall right now. Mom was a model, Dad is the professional photographer. The images are beautiful and I hope they remain on the walls as little Max grows up. I might be biased, as I spent summers at a nudist camp, and I am comfortable with the idea of my parents naked. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-pictures-of-pregnant-women-with-minimal-clothing-is-this-mainstream-now/581567/23 "2011-05-12T09:43:03Z")
I’m surprised by the negative reaction to the photos this thread has. Would I do it for myself? No, basically because I don’t think I’d have the body for it. But I do like the few I’ve seen of some of my friends. One of the pictures is just of the pregnant woman (my friend). The photo shoot was made by her mother (a photographer). For me, the pictures portray a message that she is beautiful, sexy, happy,… and pregnant. Per the comments above, some of you look at pregnant women like they’re ugly dolls. Perhaps that is your opinion, and sadly sometimes it is the most loud opinion around. But it is not the only one, and my friend’s set showed it and was a response to that thought. Another friend had pictures of him kissing his wife’s belly on a lake with a waterfall on the background. Not sexy, but it was more done to show the love of the couple for each other and their baby. I do not see why the kid should be traumatized. There are, after all, pictures of me suckling my mom. There are pictures of me as a baby naked. A tastefully done picture of my mom pregnant is something I would have found prettier than other pictures. And she’s my mom. Whom I’ve seen naked. Someone did have a site of truly awful pregnant pictures. I wouldn’t want to display those. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-pictures-of-pregnant-women-with-minimal-clothing-is-this-mainstream-now/581567/24 "2011-05-12T11:11:26Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#): > > [Pregnant women are smug](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJRzBpFjJS8). Funny! There is far too much navel gazing going on by some peopel who are preggers. That said I probably would have liked a nice pic of me pregnant, but I have no desire to see anyone elses exposed babybumps. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-pictures-of-pregnant-women-with-minimal-clothing-is-this-mainstream-now/581567/25 "2011-05-12T13:49:47Z")
I don’t like them, either, but I guess I can kind of understand you taking them for yourself. But really, in most cases I never wanted to see you half-naked when you weren’t pregnant, why should I want to see you as such when you are? I admit it trips my “icky” meter and I understand that’s my problem…however the display and the smugness women show is a whole different kettle of fish. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-pictures-of-pregnant-women-with-minimal-clothing-is-this-mainstream-now/581567/26 "2011-05-12T13:55:08Z")
> [@KarlGrenze](#): > > I’m surprised by the negative reaction to the photos this thread has. FTR, despite the snarky tone one might read in my previous comment, I really have no problem with them. I think pregnancy should be a special time, and pregnant women _are_ beautiful. Certainly some of the _specific_ pictures, or the uses made of them, may be goofy or tasteless, but the basic concept is fine. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-pictures-of-pregnant-women-with-minimal-clothing-is-this-mainstream-now/581567/27 "2011-05-12T14:50:16Z")
It’s all to do with celebrities (who have hordes of makeup artists, hairdressers, chauffeurs, lots of flunkies, designer clothes, etc.) who get knocked up and then it’s all “lookit me! lookit meee! am I not still the hottest twat on two legs? lookit meee!” Some women, being sheep, feel moved to emulate them. ---
**Author:** ![Azeotrope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/0ea827/32.png) [@Azeotrope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azeotrope)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-pictures-of-pregnant-women-with-minimal-clothing-is-this-mainstream-now/581567/28 "2011-05-12T14:56:16Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > It’s all to do with celebrities (who have hordes of makeup artists, hairdressers, chauffeurs, lots of flunkies, designer clothes, etc.) who get knocked up and then it’s all “lookit me! lookit meee! am I not still the hottest twat on two legs? lookit meee!” Some women, being sheep, feel moved to emulate them. Yep. Every time I see something on TV or a magazine about that celebrity bump-worship nonsense I think “who is she and why should I give a shit that someone I don’t know and will never meet is pregnant?” If a woman wants to get these portraits made that’s certainly her prerogative, but personally I think plastering them on Farcebook or in your home so that all and sundry can bathe in the fierceness of her fertility is a wee bit egotistical. ---
**Author:** ![Azeotrope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/0ea827/32.png) [@Azeotrope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azeotrope)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-pictures-of-pregnant-women-with-minimal-clothing-is-this-mainstream-now/581567/29 "2011-05-12T15:02:29Z")
As to the OP and whether this is mainstream or not, I used to work for a department store that sold a maternity clothing line on consignment. The maternity co. paid me a few hours a week to do their merchandising and I had to use the signage they sent me. Some of the posters and even hangtags on the clothes were quite risque. Pants, for example, tended to show a topless model doing the “handbra” thing while in a suggestive pose and the tag art for the nursing bras came pretty close to nip-slip territory. We got some complaints and I personally didn’t like it, but the target demographic was younger women where pregnancy=glamorous instead of mundane biological function. ---
**Author:** ![Strainger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strainger/32/244_2.png) [@Strainger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strainger)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-pictures-of-pregnant-women-with-minimal-clothing-is-this-mainstream-now/581567/30 "2011-05-12T16:17:30Z")
This thread reminds me of a recent STFU Parents entry, except the exposed, swollen belly wasn’t on the woman. > **[STFU, Parents](https://stfuparents.tumblr.com/post/3435552359/click-to-enlarge-typically-i-leave)** > > :: Click to enlarge :: Typically I leave submissions like this to Awkward Family Photos, but for some reason this one struck me as post-worthy. Something about the kneeling, kissing and shirtlessness... ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-pictures-of-pregnant-women-with-minimal-clothing-is-this-mainstream-now/581567/31 "2011-05-12T16:37:24Z")
> [@ugly ripe tomato](#): > > If a woman wants to get these portraits made that’s certainly her prerogative, but personally I think plastering them on Farcebook or in your home so that all and sundry can bathe in the fierceness of her fertility is a wee bit egotistical. How is that different from all the other pictures that people plaster on Facebook? Heck, most of them are put there for the sake of vanity! As to the house comment, that is a different thing. People invite home their guests, not everybody. Certainly for many people their homes are more private than Facebook. How they decorate their house is their problem. Certainly not all and sundry can look at the pictures displayed there. ---
**Author:** ![Azeotrope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/0ea827/32.png) [@Azeotrope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azeotrope)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-pictures-of-pregnant-women-with-minimal-clothing-is-this-mainstream-now/581567/32 "2011-05-12T16:49:32Z")
> [@KarlGrenze](#): > > How is that different from all the other pictures that people plaster on Facebook? Heck, most of them are put there for the sake of vanity! > > As to the house comment, that is a different thing. People invite home their guests, not everybody. Certainly for many people their homes are more private than Facebook. How they decorate their house is their problem. Certainly not all and sundry can look at the pictures displayed there. I agree that there’s really no fundamental difference between the “lookit me I’m pregnant!” pictures and the “lookit me I went on a cruise!” or “lookit my son the Little League MVP!” I don’t like that kind of bragging, it’s my personal hangup, and it’s on me to avoid it (which I do.) But while I can avoid Farcebook pretty easily, if I get invited to someone’s home and they have the Fertile Myrtle photo spread going on, I can’t avoid that except by making a point of not looking at the walls or avoiding that person completely. Of course they can decorate their houses however they want. I’m equally allowed to think it’s tacky and egotistical. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-pictures-of-pregnant-women-with-minimal-clothing-is-this-mainstream-now/581567/33 "2011-05-12T17:10:38Z")
Here’s some background that might enlighten. When Demi showed up for that photo shoot, the photog asked how she was feeling. She confessed that being preggers always made her feel incredibly sexy. They went from there to what you saw on the cover. In so doing, in some ways, she opened up, for women who feel similar, an avenue for it to be ‘ok’ to be/feel sexy when preggers - and proud of it. Would I do it? No, it’s not me, and I didn’t feel sexy. Do I think it’s been liberating for others? Yeah, I kind of do. Do I believe we’ve about reached the saturation point for this trend/fad? Absolutely. Doesn’t change that women, who feel so, should be allowed to exude the sexiness they feel, even when preggers. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-pictures-of-pregnant-women-with-minimal-clothing-is-this-mainstream-now/581567/34 "2011-05-12T17:23:07Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > Here’s some background that might enlighten. > > When Demi showed up for that photo shoot, the photog asked how she was feeling. She confessed that being preggers always made her feel incredibly sexy. They went from there to what you saw on the cover. > > In so doing, in some ways, she opened up, for women who feel similar, an avenue for it to be ‘ok’ to be/feel sexy when preggers - and proud of it. She’s not a pioneer, just a popularizer. The fact that she _had_ a shoot scheduled while substantially pregnant itself shows that the cultural attitude was already in motion. ---
**Author:** ![Meyer6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@Meyer6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meyer6)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-pictures-of-pregnant-women-with-minimal-clothing-is-this-mainstream-now/581567/35 "2011-05-12T17:43:15Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > I know a five week old growing up in a home with a nude picture of his mother on the wall right now. Mom was a model, Dad is the professional photographer. The images are beautiful and I hope they remain on the walls as little Max grows up. > > I might be biased, as I spent summers at a nudist camp, and I am comfortable with the idea of my parents naked. My parents are practically nudists themselves and I am perfectly comfortable with them being naked. I would emphatically not have been comfortable with the idea of my teenage friends coming over to my house to have a nice long gander at naked photos of my mom though. I might be biased myself in that I don’t really find pregnant bellies to be the beautiful artistic object that many people obviously do. They’re often all veiny and weird and with the belly button popped out - ugh. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-pictures-of-pregnant-women-with-minimal-clothing-is-this-mainstream-now/581567/36 "2011-05-12T17:56:24Z")
> [@KarlGrenze](#): > > Would I do it for myself? No, basically because I don’t think I’d have the body for it. But I do like the few I’ve seen of some of my friends. That’s something I was going to mention. Only women with good figures seem to do this. Or even go around that way at all. Yip, I’ve seen that in Hollywood, too. I’m not sure if it trickled down, or if it’s just because I live in Hicktown, USA. Caring about how you look in public is a trait only 50% of the population seem to have. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-pictures-of-pregnant-women-with-minimal-clothing-is-this-mainstream-now/581567/37 "2011-05-12T18:00:28Z")
> [@Meyer6](#): > > My parents are practically nudists themselves and I am perfectly comfortable with them being naked. I would emphatically not have been comfortable with the idea of my teenage friends coming over to my house to have a nice long gander at naked photos of my mom though. Yes, but what if your mother was a famous actress who had done any number of nude scenes? Those friends would definitely have seen the films on DVD. > [@](#): > > I might be biased myself in that I don’t really find pregnant bellies to be the beautiful artistic object that many people obviously do. They’re often all veiny and weird and with the belly button popped out - ugh. I’ve not fathered any children, but I don’t find pregnant bellies to be weird at all. I have found particular pregnant women to be very sexy indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Kaio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c68b51/32.png) [@Kaio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaio)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-pictures-of-pregnant-women-with-minimal-clothing-is-this-mainstream-now/581567/38 "2011-05-12T18:19:16Z")
> [@KarlGrenze](#): > > I’m surprised by the negative reaction to the photos this thread has. Me too. I find it strange and disheartening. Why is naked bad? Well-done nudes are sensual, yes, but they don’t have to be sexual, though they can be sexy and I see nothing wrong with that either. Frankly I see nothing wrong with celebrating the beauty of a human body. I’ve photographed naked people before. They were beautiful, the emphasis was on the love they shared with their partner, and I’d love the opportunity to shoot pregnancy nudes. I honestly don’t know why it pings anyone’s icky meter. Nude equals dirty? Nude equals sex and pregnant women can’t be sexual beings? Mom “shouldn’t” expose Junior to the idea that she might have a life and a personhood beyond just changing dirty diapers and driving the kids to soccer? ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-pictures-of-pregnant-women-with-minimal-clothing-is-this-mainstream-now/581567/39 "2011-05-12T18:40:57Z")
> [@Kaio](#): > > Nude equals sex and pregnant women can’t be sexual beings? Being pregnant is pretty much _proof_ of sex. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-pictures-of-pregnant-women-with-minimal-clothing-is-this-mainstream-now/581567/40 "2011-05-12T18:48:42Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Being pregnant is pretty much _proof_ of sex. As my husband says - that’s why pregnant woman are hot. You KNOW the put out. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-pictures-of-pregnant-women-with-minimal-clothing-is-this-mainstream-now/581567.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-pictures-of-pregnant-women-with-minimal-clothing-is-this-mainstream-now/581567.md?page=3)