To think Adam Kay might have read a book instead, or come to Mumsnet?

[Graciebobcat]

Social media hides reality of parenthood, says writer and comedian.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-66779460

I mean to a degree, nothing can really prepare you for having children, but some books I read while I was pregnant certainly helped and some social media was very helpful indeed.

Mysoginistic?! Are you crazy? Have you actually worked for the NHS? It's so truthful!

My best friend is a doctor in obstetrics and she finds all the NHS humour really funny.

I've got his books and been to his live show and he seems a lovely fella, my colleagues agree.

I actually had sympathy for him with his books & enjoyed them to a certain extent. They did get weirder and weirder though. I also wouldn't necessarily say he's strictly a misogynist- I think he hates/struggles to relate to all people no matter what gender.
He's been quite vocal about extreme mental health and to be honest if it was a woman who was pregnant who had some of the mental health issues that he does then social services would probably, rightly, be involved.
And it's like for crying out loud are you actually messing that you didn't know what it would all be about? You skimmed FB & insta for some happy family posts but learnt NOTHING from all your years In the medical profession?! Or from asking actual parents? Or reading a book? Or even going on our own NHS website which quite categorically states that new babies cry A LOT and all the other stuff he seems to have been oblivious to??
Obviously until you are in the thick of it you cannot ever imagine what it's like but before I had my first I did a fair bit of research so I had an inkling!!!
The 4 month age gap is just bizarre as well. Why not have an age gap that would have been scientifically possible were they real siblings?
I read that article today and really lost respect for him tbh.

He’s a very friendly caring guy to the people that know him, but he is also rather odd and eccentric, and I suspect neurodiverse. A product of a very privileged family, mostly medics, and stinking rich.

He comes across so badly in interviews, and this latest one makes him look like an absolute prick, especially when he used to be married to a (female) midwife!

The thing is in his book he really expressed a lot of contempt for women, particularly pregnant and birthing women, and the whole process of childbirth. Kind of viewed it with a mix of amusement and disgust despite choosing to work in that field.

Then goes on to realise that actually he’s going to need a woman to do all that exact stuff in order for him to bring his own child into the world.

I do wonder how he reflects on his book now that a) he’s experienced it from the other side of the curtain, attending appointments/scans/the actual birth as a parent and it being his own child being born and b) now that he has a daughter I wonder if he reflects on how she may be treated in the future in healthcare, whether or not that makes him reconsider his attitudes.

Indeed.