New Mothers And Their New Bodies

Did somebody say fourteen postpartum moms showing off their Caesarean scars and distended pelvic pouches? A veritable Golden Corral stretched out flesh buffet.

It’s hard to be a woman. Not simply the modern machinations of managing work and children, and the ninety-eight-percent likelihood of being raped at Swarthmore, but shit women have always done that have long since gone unnoticed. Like birthing a child. No man is signing up to have a human skull of any age passed through his genitals. Unbeknownst to many, gestation is counterproductive for that perfect summer bikini body.

British sisters Aimee and Jenna Hobbs had the notion to elevate the beauty of after-childbirth women by gathering up a bakers dozen plus one postpartum women and photograph them in their natural state. Apparently, that’s their unattractive big mom underwear. 

“Instead of hiding the emotional and physical flaws of postpartum women, we wanted to celebrate them. The tired circles under the eyes, the scars from a cesarean section, the stretch marks across the bellies where our babies grew. We wanted to show women that it is beautiful, that it is enough, that it should be celebrated.”

You’d think women would already know what women look like after having kids. Like men instinctively know being kicked in the balls is going to be a shitty experience. So presume this display of women’s true bodies after birth is designed to make men feel bad. It almost makes you not want to have sex. Almost.

Oddly, some of the babies in this photo look kind of old. Not ancient, but some have to be pushing a year or more. Doesn’t postpartum have a time limit or is it a designation, like we call all former governors ‘Governor’? Nobody’s judging a woman with a newborn on her looks. People understand Kim Kardashian dropping tons of pounds immediately after birth by way of tape worms and Ipecac is not the norm. Though twelve months out, you might start to get labeled as lazy if your gunt is still flapping in the breeze.

Working on the assumption these were all consensual births, consider that having a kid inside of you for nine months might do some damage. If you have good genes, you’ll bounce back. If you looked like an Anglican clodhopper prior to kids, you’re going to look like Silly Putty after too many newspapers. There’s a reason women who make a living off their looks hire out for wombs. Somewhere between super ashamed and super proud of your postpartum body is the softest landing.

_{Photo Credit: Aimee and Jenna Hobbs}