“I’m trying to enjoy it as much as I could. And fashion is one of my favorite things, so, you know, we’re defying what it even means to be pregnant and maternal”
Rihanna to Entertainment Tonight
Ever since Rihanna revealed she was pregnant a few weeks ago, she has been stopping people in their tracks with her choice of maternity fashion. She wears tops that reveal her stomach instead of hiding it like most pregnant women tend to do, and she makes sure that everyone knows she’s embracing her pregnancy body.
In a way, Rihanna is just another woman challenging how society expects pregnant women to dress and act. Women are expected to hide their bumps, if not they’re judged or ridiculed for it because women are expected to be modest when it comes to their pregnancy. They have to love their pregnant bodies but at the same time, not make a point of showing it off. How does that make sense? It doesn’t, again I say, that’s why societal standards of pregnant women are seriously messed up and Rihanna will not tolerate it!
“There’s nothing wrong with loving your pregnant body or showing it off to your husband, but our cultural fetishization of pregnancy and motherhood is out of hand,” a news reporter from the New York Post, Naomi Schaefer Riley, once wrote. The cultural fetishization of pregnancy and motherhood? WHAT? It’s as if women can never win with these things.
If we show off our bodies, pregnant or not, then we’re doing too much and asking to be looked at, but if we cover up then people think that we are insecure and don’t love our bodies. Frankly, neither one is true at all. For years, society has told pregnant women that they need to stop showing off their bumps because it’s not attractive or necessary, but the truth is that women don’t do it for anyone other than themselves.
Here you have Rihanna, who has millions of people looking at her, showing off her baby bump and being proud of it, simply because it makes her feel good. Having her prove society wrong, what a queen! Her fashion statements and what she is saying about them should help to encourage other pregnant women to not be ashamed to show off their bodies just because other people think they shouldn’t.
“I’m enjoying not having to worry about covering up my tummy. If I feel a little chubby, it’s like, whatever! It’s a baby!”
Rihanna to People Magazine