I Am Pregnant And I Exist

Jillian C. York » Pregnancy as Provocation 3 months ago on Wordpress

[...] that this is indeed revolutionary: It is a woman, standing up, unashamed and unafraid, in a country where “television channels are flipped at the mere sight of a man an a woman kissing, where, in [...]

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Charlotte 3 months ago on Wordpress

Great post! I’ve been reading your blog for a few months and very much enjoy your articles. I hope you don’t mind that I quoted you about a post of my own regarding this particular magazine feature?

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inspiration 3 months, 1 week ago on Wordpress

“Nadia Larguet bientot maman”; the title says it all. I think it’s not about conveying the idea that pregnancy should be seen as a great event in the life of a woman, and how every woman and her partner should celebrate it with a big smile on the face and a great pride of showing the big belly. It’s not about stirring up a discussion in the Moroccan society about women struggling with pregnancy or dying from the lack of tools in hospitals or from ignorance… The title says it all again! It’s about Nadia, the woman who is letting everybody know she is pregnant, a chocking way of doing it for sure. Maybe her own way of saying: ” i am a “free” woman, and i do not give a “damn” about what this society thinks of me!”Maybe she misses being under the spot light, and is feeling nostalgic to her days in 2M, or maybe even she is giving a “coucou/wink” (her way) to those who have always criticized her and her performance in the two programs she had produced and presented in 2M. She is reported to have said in one of her interviews that if we had a People like magazine in Morocco, she would have been its main topic all the time; referring to all the gossips that have been going in the newspapers, and in the media arena about her and how good or not she is as an anchorwoman.

So my friend cabalamuse, you wish and I wish, the reason behind her photo in the magazine was all about what you have talked and wondered about.

My question is who reads “femmes du Maroc”? Certainly not those ladies you talked about, being stuck in some villages, and struggling every single minute to make a living for their families and kids; not those women who could have had a smooth delivery and found themselves in a grave instead because of a simple delivery that could have gone right if only they had the possibility to deliver in a descent environment. Surely not those mothers who do not have the time nor the thought to look at their bodies and wonder whether they are still cute or ugly with a big belly!

Beside all of this and if we think that Nadia wanted to really start a discussion within the Moroccan society about giving more attention and credits to pregnant women, then i think there are other ways of doing that and which suit the Moroccan environment better. We do not have to always copy the other in order to convey an idea; we can learn from the other to stir in debates and talk about tabous, but we need to take the idea and give it our own “clothing”… For god’s sake, when was it ok in our society to show one’s naked body in public, be it of a man or a woman?! Why do we have to play the cool and force ourselves to fit within this new world with all these new norms and ideaologies, or else we are labeled as a “non cool” person with backward mentality…

When you want to defend a general public, in this case the everyday Malika or Fatima, you have to go towards them, to talk their language and fit in their way of living; then bring them toward your world and opinions. That’s if we think that Larguet, behind her photo shoot, intended to really do that. I doubt it strongly just because i never thought she was interested in what the everyday Fatima or Khadija go through. I am not blaming her for not embracing the women (or people in general) struggle, but i just think she was a simple girl who cares less about what is going on in the destitute women lives. She was (as i remember her from 2M) a cool girl who wanted to present a cool program targeting a cool audience and pasta.

Did she change over the years and matured and so wants to carry a fight for women? Not sure about that; plus doing that through a magazine that the women we are talking about (or their partners) do not even purchase, well i am sorry to tell you that her goal was purely “lucratif” or as i already mentioned, it’s all about her sharing her pregnancy with the “femmes du Maroc”, those “femmes” whom “everyday” Fatima or Malika are not…

Now having said that, i do not care about what people want to do with their bodies; chacun pour soi, but when it comes to a mother body, well excuse me but my PERSONAL opinion is that it is a very pure, even a “sacred” (to me) thing. Seeing a pregnant woman is just so awesome that one thinks that is purity in itself, or like you described it Cablamuse, you see the fertility exposed in front of your eyes. To me this should be kept private, because whatever a pregnant lady is carrying inside her, it is so pure and so great that none has the right to approach this body that is “incubating” this pure little thing (the baby) not even by a look. There was this period when i started seeing these girls pregnant and showing their belly (with a demi-ventre showing their belly button), i would feel like approaching them and asking them to cover their belly, because to me a woman body is not hers anymore once she is pregnant, it is shared with another human being (the baby inside her), and she has no right to use it for a new and fashionable look. The same thing with a woman with a baby in her arms, and showing her breast to the whole world….

My opinion about the body of a pregnant woman might seem silly, weird, but that is the way i look at pregnancy. To me, it goes beyound my freedom, my body, cute or ugly, attractive or not; because when you get pregnant, you do not think anymore about yourself only; there is a human being that will forever depend on you and get the best of your attention, feelings and life. So the argument that i am a woman, and i am free to show my body, and you have no right to look at me in a sexual manner or think i am ugly….does not stand anymore when you are a mother. Nobody forces any woman to be a mother and yes a mother can still remain a woman, attractive, cute, and taking care of herself, but that erases the ME; you have shared your body with another Human being, you offered this body as a carrier to another being, and that in itself puts the woman in a much higher position than anybody else, and so who cares about how people look at her body but rather how people should consider her as a whole: a mother, a caring person, a giver….

I love the mother notion and that makes me criticize a lot women who get stuck up in their own world forgetting that they have a new mission in life than just being a woman trying hard to prove her feminity.

I apologize for this long comment, but this one picture carries so many topics in it…

voila,voilouuu ) ... See all content Hide content

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mona 3 months, 1 week ago on Wordpress

Same old story, whenever someone is not of the same point of view or defends the facts that he is sure about and believes in, he becomes defensive, naive,accusatiry or even maybe “terorrist” . never ends…..Whose being judjemental?????????

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Amina 3 months, 1 week ago on Wordpress

I think Moroccan women run the full gamut with regards to dressing their pregnant bodies just as they do with non-pregnant bodies. The women who dress less modestly in general are not at all shy about cramming their pregnant tummies into shirts which are way-too-small-and-show-pregnant-belly-skin-to-boot. Pregnant women who wear djellabas simply favor them and they are practical and fit the Islamic modesty code. I don’t see any relationship between the djellaba and pregnant women feeling the need to hide or minimize their appearance. Also, I haven’t seen very much maternity wear here, although there’s more now than there was some years back.

In general, I think Moroccan women veiled or not are much more comfortable in their skin (pregnant or non-pregnant, fat, thin, or in-between) than their American counterparts. I attribute this to the hammam culture. I’ve never heard a Moroccan woman complain of feeling fat while pregnant, unattractive while pregnant, yada yada like American women often bemoan. And we’ve all seen Moroccan women considered quite chunky by American standards showing fat rolls along with their cleavage. No shame there.

But no worry, this insecurity will certainly be coming to Moroccan women as well. A few more good magazine covers like the one above, and a few junky articles like, “How to Look Your Best While Pregnant: or “How to Still Turn Heads Even Though You’re Married” should help do the trick. ... See all content Hide content

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mona 3 months, 1 week ago on Wordpress

Mr cabalamuse you youself could be non-moroccan.it s not a question of being defensive, it s more a question of facts and realities. whether u r moroccan or not, if you come with stories that the others r sure that they don t exist or false, you will receive the same response.

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mona 3 months, 1 week ago on Wordpress

Mr cabalamuse, u still did not answer my question. Jillian and I were discussing one specific thing which is ” pregnant moroccan women weraing jellabas to hide their pregnancy” and my point was that is completely fase and misleading to other people who knows nothing about the moroccan woman. what you said and which i agreed on was irrelevent to our discussion. As for jillian Ive never read her previous writtings, so I was responding to and a specific subjectand correcting a specific idea. ... See all content Hide content

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cabalamuse 3 months, 1 week ago on Wordpress

I’m glad you agree. We tend to be defensive when criticism comes from non-Moroccans. I’ve been reading Jillian’s articles for a few years now; Her fondness for Morocco is palpable. She’s defended Morocco in countless venues. I hold her previous comment to be true and in good faith.

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mona 3 months, 1 week ago on Wordpress

Si cabalamuse , all what u said is facts and we do not deny it. an overhaul is needed, definetly. My quetion in what way is it relevant to what Jillian and I were discussing.

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Jillian C. York 3 months, 1 week ago on Wordpress

Amina, the more I think about it the more I agree…the photo does not, to me, match the purpose of the article (which I still haven’t read! doesn’t anyone have a scanner?).

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Jillian C. York 3 months, 1 week ago on Wordpress

You make it sound as if nudity has just always been a part of western society as it is today (when in fact, the lack of modesty in American culture is a product of the last century alone).

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Amina 3 months, 1 week ago on Wordpress

I’ve looked very hard at that photo and I’ve tried to see all of the things you talked about…poor health care for pregnant women, abortion issues, the embarrassment of buying Always pads from your neighborhood hanout, viewing women in a more gratifying fashion….say what?

The truth is, images like this reflect declining morality and little else. I’m not getting that light bulb moment where I say, indeed this photo transcends issues of pregnancy and nudity. Instead, I see a naked pregnant woman. I wonder how she has deluded herself to think that this exposure was a good thing to do. I wonder if the readers of femmes du maroc will also feel the need to be immodest in order to feel empowered? ... See all content Hide content

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uberVU - social comments 3 months, 1 week ago on Wordpress

Social comments and analytics for this post…

This post was mentioned on Twitter by Larbi_org: A propos de la couv de “femmes du Maroc” http://bit.ly/W0gF6 d’accord avec ATB Bien que Larguet me tape souvent sur les nerfs….

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I Am Pregnant And I Exist « A Moroccan About the world around him | Headlines Today 3 months, 1 week ago on Wordpress

[...] more: I Am Pregnant And I Exist « A Moroccan About the world around him Share and [...]

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MarocBlogs 3 months, 1 week ago on Twitter

I Am Pregnant And I Exist: In an already bifurcated country, The November issue of Femmes du Maroc – Women of M.. http://bit.ly/3X2Rmg

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