Pregnant women feel "yummy mummy" pressure

Is the current trend of showing off pregnant bellies liberating?  Or has the social obsession with perfect women's bodies invaded one of the few times in their lives when women could feel their bodies were less scrutinized?  Kim Powell writes for The Australian:

Women are increasingly concerned about their shape and weight during pregnancy, partly due to the media's focus on celebrity yummy mummies, experts say.

Psychologist Beth Shelton from Swinburne University said there seems to be “strong, unwritten social rules” about how much weight is acceptable to gain, where that weight goes and how long it takes to lose it after the baby is born.

“For the women in the study, a big tummy and large breasts were ok, even desirable, but weight on any other body part was often a source of anxiety,” Dr Shelton said.

“These social rules are also evident in the increasing preoccupation of women’s magazines with celebrities’ pregnancy and post-birth bodies.”