"Hot pregnant women are the official new “advertising hood ornaments'"

Um.  I really don't know what to say about this new development in marketing.

Apparently, Brazilian beer brewers Nova Schin is using images of "hot" pregnant women to boost their non-alcoholic beer sales.

Sigh, where do I begin?  How about with the fact that it's effing lame that advertisers can't come up with anything better than naked chicks for ads.  (Or that apparently it's such a successful method, we fall for it every time.) 

Or maybe I should gripe about the fact that pregnancy is no longer a time when a woman can take a lil' Time Out from all the body image pressures that bombard us daily. NOW we need to be PREGNANT AND HOT at the Oscars (a la Rachel Weisz and Catherine Zeta Jones) and PREGNANT AND HOT on the cover of W magazine (a la Gwyneth with Apple) and just A FEW MONTHS PAST PREGNANT AND ALREADY HOT ENOUGH to be back on the runway for Victoria's Secret (Hello Heidi Klum).   Talk about Raising the Bar.  Yeesh.

Or wait.  Maybe the problem is that these ads (and you can see more of them HERE) aren't even of REAL women.  They're some photoshopped, CG collage or something.... some digitally enhanced, improved, sexed up version of a pregnant woman...implying that being pregnant isn't what makes a woman sexy.. it's being pregnant in a CERTAIN bikini clad, non-stretchmarked, not-at-all-tired, no-pregnancy-induced-adult-acne,boobs-still-small-enough-to-fit-into-a-triangle-bikini-top-with-no-underwire , still-with-a-come-hither-look kinda way.  Cause yeeeah!  I'm pregnant, and I still want to make all your fantasies come true, you lucky man, you.

What a load of offensive hooey (is that how you spell that word?  It's a great word!)  I mean, don't these ad execs have wives?  Are they all 20something lad mag readers who have graduated to creating the same tripe that they consume?  Because if they're actually caring adults, not Neanderthal sexists, I'm sure they don't hold their OWN wives to these standards.  But hey, if it sells, they're willing to foist the message/imagery on the rest of us.

Another group of people I need five minutes alone with to set straight.  Damn, my list is getting long....

Comments

[Adele]

Hi, I read your book a couple weeks ago (even though i'm probably not part of the target demographic--i'm 21) and wish there had been books that i'd known about when i was a tween. i like reading this blog but i find all this news quite depressing... do you have any tips on how to feel inspired to take on the world after reading this, rather than just saying feeling crappy?

[Adele]

good lord, i should have proof read that before posting...
*wish there had been books LIKE YOURS that i'd known about when i was a tween...

*rather than just, say, feeling crappy?

[Ran Barton]

Audrey-

When you get to the end of your list, please get in touch... I have a very long list of my own and I'd love your help setting the world's morons straight.

Ran

[Audrey]

Hi Adele.. no worries about the proof reading. We're all friends here...and I know that when I get typing, my mind goes faster than my fingers... so I declare (cause it's my blog) that typos are hereby excused!

Thanks for reading.. and it's funny, All Made Up seems to be developing quite a little 20something following given that there isn't much out there for your target age group. And when it comes right down to it, the topics that I cover in the book really apply to both teens AND young women equally. I just decided to write it for teens to try to get some of this information out to women at a younger age. But heck, if the design and illustrations were slightly different, the book could just be repackaged for 20 and 30 somethings, and still ring true.

As for advice: Yep. I got some of that. I think the main, most important thing is that advice like "just accept yourself and be happy" or "light some candles and take a bath, and look at yourself in the mirror and feel lucky" --which is what a lot of people try to tell girls/women--is really not all that useful. OR rather, it's only half the battle. The problem with it is that is puts the onus on you--or me, or girls--to find in ourselves to overcome what's out there and just feel better. It doesn't "point fingers" or "call out" what's made us feel this way to start with. And that's namely images in the media and cultural messages about which qualities and traits are considered valuable/desirable in women. If THOSE were different, then we might feel different about ourselves.... see?

The point that I'm trying to make is that we shouldn't feel crappy about ourselves, we should feel offended and mad about what's being marketed to us. It's like the bumper stickers said at the time of the last election: "If you're not mad, then you haven't been paying attention."

I think we should be down right livid that society makes it more appealing to want to be diet ourselves away to achieve a look that marketers/manufacturers make up becuase it benefits them financially instead of wanting to be like women who are changing the world. Wait. Who are those women again? Oh rrriiiiiight. We barely know their names and what they do cause there is no room in the mainstream media to cover them since there's so much hype.

But what we can do is start by changing our own thinking... so that psychologically we're not a market for the images and messages that come our way. We can get educated about how the media work, what their goals are, and why things look the way they do in pop culture... so that WE can decide how much we want to let it affect us. Then we take absorb all the fun, entertaining bits... and stomp on all the rest.

Ya with me?

[Adele]

Hi Audrey,
That's interesting that there are other 20something women out there who really like your book, because it shows how much WE need that kind of affirmation, too! And you're right, there's not that much out there for us.
I agree with pretty much everything you said. Although my problem is not necessarily with feeling bad about MYSELF, but letting feelings of frustration with the media and celebrity hype/current state of the world take OVER and put me in horrible moods most of the time... It seems like there's really nothing I can do to stop it/help it, so it can be a bit depressing.
Anyways, thanks for your comment!

[Feminism & Lipgloss]

Your blog doesn't make me feel crappy. It makes me want to go out and kick ass at all the people who made me feel as I wasn't damn pretty.
Y'know, average angry teenage girls feelings.

[Audrey]

Oh God. I hope DBTH doesn't make ANYONE feel crappy. Just the opposite! My goal is to raise questions and deconstruct some of the messages we live among everyday and absorb without thinking to show that we DO have the power to make decisions about how they make us feel, and affect us.

And Adele: all I can say that is if you get down about what is out there, the best remedy is to speak up (as we're all doing here) and make our OWN media messages. To that end, I've just gotten in contact with a bright young filmmaker named Tatyana Terzopoulos who's making a one hour documentary about the bootay, ie how girls feel about that part of their bodies, the cultural fascination with them etc. (More info at http://betweenproductions.ca) I think it's so cool that she's investigating this topic and can't wait to see what develops....

Now I gotta go join Femininism and Lipgloss and kick some ass....

;)

[Ginny NiCarthy]

It definitely is important to look at positive aspects of this often dreary infuriating culture. How about this?
Maybe you know that the national rates of both nonviolent and violent crime have been steadily decreasing for about a decade at least. The amount of woman-battering by intimate partners has also gone down. But there's more: the rate of rape and other sexual assaults of teens and kids have been going down, down -- and down some more. Likewise, teen runaways and pregnancies. Possibly teen suicides too, though there is some bad news about teen women suiciding.
No one has figured out why all this is so, but part of it just might be that the women's movement to stop violence to women, children and others has been doing some things right. If you want more info, I'll be writing up the details, which you can find on my soon-to-be blog. In a week or so you can find a link to it at www.abusedwomen.org or www.ginnynicarthy.org. Or Google David Finkelhor and read his research. I've been in this movement 35 years, and even though women still suffer from all kinds of violence and humiliation, the news is finally heartening. It just might be that we really are changing the world. We need a couple of new generations to continue carrying on the work.

[vishal kumar]

i whant to see images of pregnent girls but thereis no images

[Air Jordan shoes]

The main dangers in this life are the people who want to change everything --- or nothing.

[Tubal Reversal Surgery]

Hy ppl I just wanna share my knowledge about Tubal reversal…
The chances of conceiving after having a tubal reversal are considerably better than with IVF, with a 70 to 80% safe success rate for those women who are under 40 years of age. Most women are able to conceive naturally within a year of their surgery.

[Tubal Reversal]

Hy all over there….
Hope u all fine and dng well….
Here I wanna some information about a Medical term that is called Tubal reversal…. A tubal reversal, also known as tubal reanastomosis, is usually performed when a woman wants to try to achieve pregnancy after undergoing a tubal ligation. In many cases, surgery for tubal reversal is successful. However, a number of factors can affect the success of the procedure. Estimates vary, but health experts approximate somewhere between 50 to 75 percent of tubal reversals are successful in reopening the fallopian tubes. However, the success rate may be much lower.

[juicy couture store]

Because people can't use their eyes or mouth, they must show their feelings with their hands and bodies!

[Tubal Ligation Reversal]

nice and great information...i like your way of thinking about pregnancy.
i want to share here that those women have done tubal ligation and wishing to give birth again then they must no need to worry...
visit http://www.mybabydoc.com and feel relaxed.

[am i pregnant calculator]

the teenage pregnancy rate in the 1950s and 1960s was higher than today, the teenage marriage rate was also higher; in 1960 the percentage of unmarried teenage births was 15 percent, compared with 75 percent today. Many social commentators argue that the decline in teenage marriage has contributed to the rise in poverty and welfare dependence of single mothers.

[Michael]

Hi Lisa,The picture of Olivia is adolrbae! Just precious! I am the mother of 2 daughters, I got my tubal while in a bad marriage and once out of that bad marriage and remarried to my wonderful husband, (we have always wanted to have our own babies together)we immediately checked into getting a TR in our own home state of Iowa, but it costs double here compared to Chapel Hills prices! My age is 43 1/2 and I'm wondering if you might have heard how old was the oldest woman who successfully got pregnant and delivered a baby after a TR? I have read every testimonial on the website and there are so few that tell what age they are at the time of the TR. I haven't called Chapel Hill yet, but I am very soon. I am so excited and anxious most nights I can't fall asleep! I just thought that I'd email someone who has already been there and who may know more than I have been able to learn reading the website. My tubes were burnt and cut. If you have anything that you can share with me about your experience I would appreciate it very much. Thanks so much. Tracy Alexander in Iowa

[Auth]

I just turned 30 on March 6th. I had a tubal revsreal on March 21st,2011. My tube lengths are 7 and 7-1/2 cm. Its only been almost 2 weeks since surgery. I am hoping to become pregnant soon. I do agree with everyone, Dr.Berger is a saint. He did a really good job repairing my tubes. And I think I recovered rather quickly.I would recommend Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center to anyone. Tracy, did you use an ovulation test? Or just time it right? I think I will just take my chances and see what god gives us. lol. . . I don't want to get too overly excited and not be able to get pregnant.