We’ve all seen photos of celebrities in their postpartum figures, and we do agree they look flawless. And while it’s truly an inspiration for mothers to want to bounce back in shape, we think celebrities are really not the role models you want to get inspired by. The truth is, these celebrities probably have undergone numerous tucks and skin smoothing treatments to get the body they had before pregnancy. So, what do real mothers look like, those who don’t have the luxury of cosmetic surgeons and expensive skin care products?
Jade Beall published a series of self-portraits of her semi-nude postpartum body online. She inspired so many women across America who wanted her to do the same for them. Beall has since then captured over 50 mothers (and counting) with their postpartum bodies, and written accounts of their journeys from self-doubt to body confidence, and putting them into a book called “A Beautiful Body”.
A Beautiful Body is meant to show the world what mothers really look like, including their so-called “flaws”. “We are facing an epidemic of women who feel unworthy of being called beautiful,” Beall says, as she describes the world in which “nearly all of us struggle to feel beautiful in our own skin”.
She feels that women who have given birth face even harsher expectations:
“Shaming mothers for not ‘bouncing back’ after childbirth can cause feelings of failure when being a mother is challenging enough and when a big number of us have already lived a life of feeling un-beautiful prior to giving birth”. [Source]
‘A Beautiful Body’, a 100-150 page book, might be published in January next year. For more information about the book, click here.
