· Craze for foreign habit goes mainstream as local celebrities cast off clothes to expose their hidden graces
By Ugochi Ndukwe
A violinist has his violin, a painter his palette but all a female celebrity has is her baby bump, you would think. You could be forgiven for thinking that the heavily pregnant Nigerian actress, dancer and musician to mention a few, are driven by spasms of self love to frantically display their baby bumps on the social media. Critics of their action would interpret it as symptom of extreme vanity and esteem issues but fans of the celebrities would simply consider it: ‘moving with the times’ or ‘going with the trend.’
The rate at which local celebrities discard their clothing to reveal their bare skin covering their embryos would leave the conservative gasping for breath and clutching at norms with frenetic speed. The roll call of local female celebrities who are subscribing to this cultural import from Europe and America has become worrisome to folk who believe a woman’s femininity is best preserved and motherhood better ennobled if the contemporary woman could endeavour to keep her hidden graces covered and shielded from the glare of an increasingly nosy and narcissistic world.
Just recently, Dior Chidera Adiele, shocked her fans and raised serious eyebrows by posing completely nude for a photo shoot celebrating her baby bump. The Nollywood actress, in a bold move, flaunted her huge baby bump completely nude like publicity seeking actresses do in Hollywood. No one had dared posing nude with baby bump until Adiele and worries are, the bug will catch on very soon among the nation’s publicity-seeking celebrities.
Probably lacking the courage and daring of Adiele, Kaffy Ameh, otherwise known as Kaffy the Dance Queen, unclothed her belly to show off her baby bump to the world before she put to bed. And the roll keeps increasing to include more celebrities or wanna-be celebrities. Others that have unclothed their belly and hidden graces to the world include Liz, wife of Nigerian photographer, Yemi Black; Nollywood actress, Uche Iwuanyanwu, who recently gave birth to a baby boy in the United States (US).
Oby Edozie, also an actress and wife of 1990s’ music star, Alex O, also shared photo showing her son and her bulged baby bump before the delivery of her baby girl on Sunday, February 8, 2015. The list also includes actresses, Chacha Eke and Ufuoma Ejenobor.
Ex-model and FM presenter, Titi Fanta, also showed off her exposed baby bump by posting pictures of it on Facebook.
While fans of the celebrities justify their proclivities to show off their nude baby bumps, an alternative school of thought considers it irresponsible and at variance with the African culture.
“I personally don’t agree with showing off to the world your bumps in nude when you are pregnant; even the majority of the white people that our celebrities are copying, do not like it. I have many American and European friends and they consider it childish and in bad taste,” stated Olabisi Fowosere, a luxury goods importer and mother of three.
Corroborating her, Agnes Okoli, a US-based psychologist, argued that it is “unarguably silly” for a woman to expose her pregnancy to the world, “all in the name of subscribing with an alien and decadent culture.”
“Why do would a woman see the need to take a nude picture of her pregnancy and post it on the internet for the whole world to see? You could take that nude picture and send it to your husband privately but posting it on the web indicates a deep sense of insecurity, vanity and low self esteem of the woman involved. It’s like she is desperately seeking publicity and public approval of her state and femininity. Such people need help,” she said.
There is no gainsaying one of the trendiest aspects of contemporary celebrity gossip culture is the ‘Celebrity Baby Bump.’ Fans of famous people have developed an abiding attraction for it. Like 21st century voyeurs, they love to look at it. They obsess about it and even more astonishingly, they love to analyze it. But for pregnant women, things may be a little different. A study suggests that obsessing over celebrity baby bumps does not only affect the self esteem of a pregnant mother but also the actual connection she feels to her baby.
The study, published in the journal Psychology & Marketing looked at 478 expecting mothers, and found that pregnant women who more closely follow pregnant celebrities, along with other factors, were more likely to have body image issues and stress regarding weight gain, something a lot of moms already deal with. But the researchers also found it had another effect. The research revealed that it causes lower prenatal attachment, better known as “the feelings of attachment or love a mother feels for her developing baby during a pregnancy.”
While the result of the research may not be said to be truly representative of the impact of baby bump voyeurism on pregnant mothers, it offers interesting perspectives about the effect of celebrity culture on contemporary society.
Moralists believe the increasing fascination of Nigerian celebrities with the imported baby bump voyeurism and the reciprocal lust accorded their hankering for acclaim by their fans and media audience, poses inimical challenges to the preservation of Nigerian norms and culture.
