Every once in a while when I don’t expect a web search to turn something up, I find more than I expected. I read an article in the January 4, 2014 Sun Sentinel, “Japanese Moms Seek ‘Belly Blessings,” by Koji Ito about a practice in Japan where artists paint on the belly of mothers-to be as “a blessing for safe delivery and the healthy growth of their baby.” I knew in the U.S. that some pregnant mothers do a casting or professional photographs of their pregnant belly. These are easy to locate on the internet. The casting set only costs $20. Click here.
I did not expect so many articles and pictures about pregnant women painting their bellies! See, for example, 23 in a Parenting Magazine article.
OMG! There is even a blog with weird and creepy art on pregnant bellies.
I guess the latter would keep the unwanted touching away. A while back there was a supposed harassment suit by a pregnant women whose belly was touched after she said no. According to the cable news networks on a slow news day, states were ostensibly considering laws against belly touching.
This Grandma understands the desire to touch a pregnant belly. It is a sign of happiness and love and joy and anyone wants to rub that “magic genie belly.” The funniest article is at About.com.
There are some great comebacks in the posts by pregnant women to people who want to touch their belly, including:
If a random guy asks if he can feel your stomach- “can I feel your prostate/ penis/ testicles?” (He’s basically asking to feel your uterus, which is still a sexual organ) If a stranger asks or just goes up and touches – “That’s not a baby…” Or tell them you have a panic disorder and fake an anxiety attack (maybe they will think twice before doing that to another stranger) If someone asks comments on your pregnant belly- “What baby?” Or “I’m not… Yeah…” (Awkward) If you want to be more on the polite side, when someone asks if they can touch your belly you can tell them you have a high risk pregnancy and your doctor wants as little pressure on your abdomen as possible or that you have an anxiety disorder and have issues with being touched period (this is actually true for me)
I went far out on a limb and put “belly tatoos” in google. I could not imagine who would do that and wondered what it would look like AFTER the baby was born. There are many photographs.
Now that this Grandma is totally disallusioned about American bellies, I think I like the idea of Japanese belly blessings better.
Joy,
Mema
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