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I’ve started watching the Bravo show Pregnant in Heels, and I’m not sure how I feel about it. I’m pretty bothered by this aristocratic white woman ordering wealthy pregnant women around and telling them she knows what’s best for their baby. I like that this program has featured a lot of women successful in their own right, and that this baby “concierge” stuff is the aristocratic white woman’s own business (totally blanking on her name, don’t feel like googling it right now).
For a while I’d been feeling iffy about the show (after seeing previews I swore I wouldn’t watch it, then one day I happened to be on the couch and it came on. I guess the remote was out of reach), and I think I’ve finally put my finger on what I *really* don’t like:
Birth issues are important, but this show makes them seem like a luxury. I have a three friends who are doulas, and I’m lucky to have had some exposure to birth activism. It just seems… excessive and distasteful to me that there are all these women prancing around on the Upper East Side, hiring some woman to help them pick out baby furniture, while there are other women who truly need someone to help them figure out a birth plan, or teach them how to use a breast pump, etc, etc.
And what really annoyed me, is in one episode she seemed to be doing a favor for someone by helping their pregnant friend who isn’t rich. And she kept harping on the fact that they weren’t her regular clientele, and it was so restraining to have to work in those circumstances. Their baby won’t have its own room! And then she brought her “crew” in and re-did their apartment. Which is nice for them, but hardly instructive for anyone watching the show who may have been able to relate.
And another thing - 1 more thing - where are these peoples’ family and friends? Why are you hiring someone to help you choose a baby name? And other ridiculous requests. I’m sure a large part of it is for T.V., but it makes me wonder.
