Bristol Palin’s “Baby Bump”

Apparently some people think that Sarah Palin lied about her pregnancy to cover up for her teenage daughter. Among the “proofs” is this family photo in which, people claim, Bristol Palin looks 6 months pregnant.

Are you fucking kidding me?

Not all women have flat abs. No, not even all thin ones. It is absolutely despicable to go around suggesting that thin women just don’t gain weight in the stomach like that unless they’re pregnant. It’s despicable that the suggestion of a “baby bump” is followed up by the assertion that “other parts” of her body look pregnant–OH MY GOD 16-YEAR-OLDS HAVE BOOBS WHAT IS THIS WORLD COMING TO. It’s despicable that we live in a society where women have to hide the slightest hint of a pot belly or face unwanted speculation about the state of their uteri.

Newsflash: people have bellies. This is normal. Expecting a young woman to not have an ounce of fat on her stomach is not.

EDIT: Further “evidence”: this photo, in which Bristol dares to stand sideways while not sucking in her stomach enough. Have these people never seen a real woman before? Most of us look like that when we wear tight clothing. I’m sure that if we had a side view of Willow in that empire-waist dress she’d look just as “pregnant” as Bristol does.

EDIT 2: Possibly the only sane comment on the subject at Daily Kos. Immediately followed, of course, by the assertion that teenagers just don’t go from not chubby to slightly chubby in 5 months. (Altogether, everyone who has never gained a bit of weight over the span of five months, raise your hand!… I’ll wait.) This isn’t politics; this is about scrutinizing a teenage girl’s body, no doubt making her more self-conscious about her image than a “slightly chubby” girl already is.

I won’t argue with the statement in this post that the chest sticking out is “a normal body reaction when sucking in stomach muscles,” but the poster misses the obvious explanation: any woman with a slight pot belly will try to suck in her stomach most of the time, especially if (as I have read elsewhere) her classmates were spreading rumors that she was pregnant.