Janet Mbugua Body-Shamed for Being Pregnant On Air. Called ‘Gross’

Time and time again, century after century women have been made to feel ashamed about their bodies.

They have been shamed for their periods and were sent into seclusion to ‘bleed away from society’ and declared unclean for a ridiculous number of days. In modern times, women have been shamed for showing their breast barefacedly while breast feeding and their acts have been called indecent and brazen. And now unfortunately Janet is facing shame for something beautiful, her Pregnancy. Apparently some viewers are not pleased with Janet Flaunting her bump on air and this act of casting the news in her state has been called gross.

And she narrates this unpleasant experience in her blog:

I had just finished one of my newscasts and said goodnight to the crew and the rest of the team as I walked out the studio towards my car in the parking lot. As always, at that time after a show, I was scrolling through social media to read what kind of discussion people were having about the program I had just hosted. While there’s usually concrete analysis and critique about the show, on this night one particular tweet caught my eye:

“Just wondering why Janet Mbugua must newscast in that condition. Never seen it before on Kenyan TV but methinks its gross”.

I’ve quoted him verbatim and don’t want to reveal his handle, that’s just not my style. I had sat in my car and was about to turn on the ignition but the tweet stopped me dead in my tracks. I usually pay no mind to people trolling me, that will always be there, but this was an insult to every expectant mother and I was deeply offended by his ignorance, bullying and insensitivity.

I told my husband about the tweet as soon as I walked through the door at home. ‘You’ve got to be kidding me!’ was his shocked response. Truth is I have been getting interesting messages since my pregnancy started showing on TV. For the most part the viewers have been accepting of it, kind even, but there are a lot of people, men and women alike, who have been questioning why I am still on air in my ‘condition’. One woman who was at the studios this one time even pulled me aside and asked me why I insisted on flaunting my bump on air, wearing fitted dresses. I asked her, ‘why not?’ and the conversation ended there.