According to photographer Natalie McCain, the Honest Body Project is a bare-it-all series intended to give women a voice to share their honest, beautiful stories. On July 28, 2015, McCain made a stunning addition to her groundbreaking series – she decided to celebrate the female form with The Beauty In A Mother: A Maternity Series.
In her bold maternity series, McCain uses black and white photos to capture women of all shapes and sizes who are pregnant. "We need to support, love, and encourage one another," the artist wrote on her website. "No mother should feel alone in her struggles."
It's hard to believe that one of McCain's pregnant models was met with the very opposite of support, love, and encouragement after posing for the artist.
A woman from North Muskegon, Michigan (who asked to remain nameless) decided to celebrate her pregnancy by participating in Natalie McCain's photo shoot. She shared early releases of the photographs with her friends and family on Facebook, expecting praise on the professional maternity photos.
Read on to find out how her nearest and dearest reacted.
Instead of praise and support, the plus-sized mom's own family and friends commented negatively on the photographs - including the ones below.
"For the first time in about 35 weeks I felt beautiful, and was so excited to share this moment with my friends and family," the soon-to-be mom said. But when she went to check Facebook a few hours later, she was reduced to tears.
"All I received were negative comments about how huge I am, about how unhealthy I am, and about how they think my baby is going to be a 10 to 12 pound baby by the looks of how much I weigh," she said.
Natalie McCain posted the story of the plus-sized mom's family's reaction on The Honest Body Project's Facebook page. There, the new mom thankfully received the support she needed as a plus-sized mama-to-be. One commenter wrote: "I was asked tonight by a waitress if I was pregnant as I held my infant in my arms!! Like, really??? Am I supposed to give birth then go to the gym the next day? Geez people are crazy! You look great!"
Strangers of all shapes and sizes on Facebook reached out to the Michigan Mom to show her support on The Honest Body Project's Facebook page..
Stephanie Ham shared this photo and this gut wrenching story: "Body shaming happens at all sizes and I'm truly sorry they were like this to you. I just gave birth sat july 25th, 2015 to an 8.1lb baby boy, my 3rd and only 1 that went past my due date and it was by 6 days. I only weighed 156lbs. I posted this photo at 40 weeks and was told by someone that my pregnant selfie made them want to puke that he didn't post chunky dunk photos… Know it happens at all sizes. You are beautiful and good job carrying a precious life!"
Seasoned mama Ashley Utterbeck also chimed in to share her own story of pregnant body shaming with the Michigan Mom on the Honest Body Project Facebook page..
"I'm 6 months pregnant with my 4th baby and all I've heard today is how huge i am. One person even said 'we are going to need a dolly to get you around.'"
No expecting mother should feel shame during her pregnancy as the Michigan Mom from The Honest Body project did. We should all be a bit more sensitive to what we say to expecting moms – whether they're on their first or fourth baby, and whether they weigh 156 or 256 pounds.
Please SHARE to help end the stigma associated with plus-sized body types, and plus-sized pregnancies!
To learn more about The Honest Body Project, check out the video below.
