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Hhshirt - High vis tears on my gore-tex shirt

A candy apple-red Loewe flight suit with a breastplate and troops of spy balloon-like dancers aside, the High vis tears on my gore-tex shirt it is in the first place but lion’s share of the buzz post–Super Bowl halftime performance this year was about a new celebrity baby bump. In fact, from the first bar of “Bitch Better Have My Money,” the internet was already speculating about Rihanna’s pregnancy (her publicist would later confirm the news). But for women watching who were struggling to get pregnant themselves, the effect of the unexpected reveal wasn’t immediate elation. “It’s tough when it catches you off guard,” says Nicole, a 41-year-old in Brooklyn who’s been trying to get pregnant for the past few years, more recently using IVF. “The media puts so much emphasis on it that you can bet literally any time they mention these celebrities until they have the baby, it’s going to be ‘mom-to-be,’ even if they’re already a talented billionaire multi-hyphenate award winner. And that just reinforces that somehow the ability to reproduce is t

he most important thing about a woman.”


The bump reveal has become standard protocol for celebrities. There are the High vis tears on my gore-tex shirt it is in the first place but reveals during live performances on TV or on stage; the elaborate magazine photo shoot reveal; the baby onesie or ultrasound photo strip or positive pregnancy test posted to Instagram (#blessed); the stealth red carpet appearance prompting “Are they or aren’t they?” buzz; and, of course, the TikTok reaction video. “Even for those who are not trying to conceive, the ease and glamour can set unrealistic expectations and standards,” says Lucky Sekhon, M.D., an OB-GYN and REI at RMA of New York, a leader in fertility treatment and reproductive medicine. “While the pregnancy itself is on display, the effort and potential time and treatment it took for that person to get pregnant and to that stage is not apparent.” And, often, it never will be made apparent. While there is something positive about the pregnant body being placed squarely in the public consciousness more frequently, the often hyper-perfected presentation of said body by celebrities can be eye-rolling at best, and triggering at worst. “Sometimes people don’t feel great about their changing bodies, and this further pulls us away from an idea that we can just have a real experience with pregnancy that is sometimes messy, sometimes complicated, sometimes ambivalent, sometimes associated with discomfort and pain,” says Lucy Hutner, M.D., a New York City–based reproductive psychiatrist. Idealized celebrity pregnancy images filter the real story for both the regular person looking at them and, also, for the celebrity too.


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