You know what is just the worst? When pregnant ladies go out in public. Yeah, their selfless maternal giving and their miracle of life — it is really not something other people should have to watch. Please, shield us from the inhumanity.
Or so says a Turkish lawyer, Omer Tugrul Inancer, who pronounced last week that it is immodest for women in the late months of pregnancy to be seen in public. Inancer, who is an Islamic pundit, told the state television station TRT 1:
“Announcing pregnancy with a flourish of trumpets is against our civility. [They] should not wander on the streets with such bellies. First of all, it is not aesthetic. After seven or eight months of pregnancy, future mothers go out their husbands by car to get some fresh air. And they go out in the evening hours. But now, they are all on television. It’s disgraceful. It is not realism, it is immorality.”
You hear that, ladies? After seven months, you should stick ’round the house, unless your husband decides to drive you somewhere for “some fresh air.” That is, unless he’s sick of looking at your disgusting fat belly! Otherwise, waddle around at nighttime when no one has to look at you.
Shockingly, when he got slammed in the media for his remarks, Inancer only bore more into his bizarre and woman-hating theory, doubling down that pregnant bellies are scaring young girls. Thanks for the paternalism, dudebro, but something tells me it isn’t young girls who are the ones scared here! He ranted to Turkish news station, Anadolu Agency:
“You get married and get pregnant. Okay, you did well. [However], this can not be singled out as the reason you are swinging your belly. The image is not aesthetic. I am still saying the same thing. Why don’t you understand?” These are venerable things. And venerable things are kept in a respectful way … Pregnancy is not made that apparent. Moreover, that’s why young girls are scared of giving birth.”
He continued that maternity leave is supposed to be for women to stay at home (where they belong), not to “wander” the streets and offend us all with their size.
The TV station TRT 1, on which Inancer originally made his remarks, said they are not responsible for his commentary. However, Turkey’s director for Religious Affairs, released a statement in response saying that while all women, including pregnant women, should not be isolated from society, preggo ladies should really take special care to keep their bellies hidden: “[P]regnant women should be more careful about their dressing – every woman should. [They] should not wear clothes showing their bellies or backs.”
Facepalm.
[Hurriyet Daily News] [Deutsche Welle] [Hurriyet Daily News][Pregnant woman photo via Shutterstock]
Original by Jessica Wakeman
