To think that GPs shouldn't be promoting this sexist, outdated rubbish?!

[NotTheNiceLadyDoctor]

I've namechanged for this, for reasons that will become obvious!

I'm a GP in the Midlands. I'm also currently 23 weeks pregnant with my first child. When I had my booking appointment with my midwife back in July, she gave me a big pack of stuff, which included Emma's Diary. For those of you who haven't had the grim experience of reading this particular publication, it's a booklet which mixes medical information about pregnancy with the fictionalised pregnancy diary of an idiot called Emma. The diary is peppered with all kinds of offensive comments and attitudes. The diary section normalises unhealthy attitudes towards weight gain and body image, and promotes pregnancy breast growth as a happy perk because it'll make men fancy you more, rather than because your boobs are preparing to feed a baby. Emma becomes so forgetful at work that she can barely do her job and wishes she'd gone on maternity leave as early as legally possible. It also promotes very dated attitudes about gender and relationships.

If you don't have a copy to hand, my Twitter thread last month gives a flavour of the kind of crap Emma's Diary is filled with: twitter.com/DrHFRyan/status/1025280307015168000

Incredibly, this offensive, misogynistic, outdated publication is still being officially endorsed by the Royal College of General Practitioners. I have a huge, huge problem with this as a GP. I don't think that family doctors should be normalising these kinds of attitudes about pregnancy, body image, and gender roles.

Personally, I'd like nothing more than for Emma's Diary to fall off the face of the earth, but as a compromise, I'd feel a lot happier if the Royal College of GPs wasn't associated with it in any way. Can I please ask you to sign my petition if you feel the same way?

www.gopetition.com/petitions/stop-rcgp-endorsing-emmas-diary.html

If you happen to be a doctor - I know there are a few of us on here! - you can also read my blog for Pulse magazine on the subject: www.pulsetoday.co.uk/views/blogs/dr-heather-ryan/a-right-royal-mess-why-is-rcgp-still-endorsing-emmas-diary/20037467.article

(To be clear, I am very much speaking in my personal capacity here, and not as a representative of my GP surgery or any of the organisations I'm involved with.)

I only liked those for the free samples! But totally agree I had the bounty one with my first baby and threw the paraphernalia out immediately after reading the amount of food I was supposedly supposed to be eating for breakfast! More than I could manage not pregnant let alone with morning sickness.

@celebelly Any particularly awful quotes that I missed out of my Twitter rant?!

I think this has been around forever. My ds is 24 and I had it. Never heard of the bounty thing though

Howling at this

Emma's Diary is absolutely awful. There was a bit in it 4 years ago about her "hubby" struggling to quit smoking. Prick. (I am aware he is fictitious).

I had no Bounty rep on my notes but they sauntered in anyway and grilled me on where my baby was. As he was poorly and in SCBU I could have murdered her cheerfully.

Yes, it's a load of bollocks. I don't remember this from when I was pregnant but I expect I recycle-binned it immediately

Emma's diary - 23 years ago and still the same load of sexist crap?? Signed

I remember taking the piss out of Emma at antenatal classes... It reminded me of the mags like More and 19 which I stopped reading by the time I left school.

I had Bounty lie that I wouldn't be able to claim CB if I didn't give them my details. She pretended to ask her manager for permission, standing just outside the door that had a big glass panel for a couple minutes.

My second birth plan mentioned only my allergies and SPD and "please tell the Bounty rep to fuck off so I don't have to".

A dozen staff told me with great glee they had obeyed my request!

Oh my god they still have that?! I thought it was crap 11 years ago! It needs to be replaced by something like the pregnancy wars stories book from that film what to expect when you’re expecting. A booklet of good and bad real stories from real mums of all ages, cultures, religions, personalities etc arranged in trimester segments. Alongside a fact file page for certain weeks with just the facts. Pregnant women want to heard about the good to remind them about good things when they’re feeling rubbish and they want to hear the bad to know they aren’t alone!

That petition really needs some more signatures! (Maybe Change.org would have been a better choice for it?)

Also having a home birth with DC2 did have the added perk of no pushy bounty rep!

You’re brilliant OP, I completely agree and your twitter thread is brilliant!

@monumentval "please tell the Bounty rep to fuck off so I don't have to" is hilarious! I might borrow that for my own birth plan

@soddiamondspassthevodka Thanks - I didn't know there was much to distinguish the different petition sites tbh. I think a fellow doctor recommended this one because of some whizzy feature it had (ability to export signatures easily, perhaps?).

@bakedbeans47 Thank you! I have been really touched by how kind and supportive everyone on MN has been.

I remember my sister telling me about Emma’s (crap) diary 23 years ago when she was pregnant and it was a load of rubbish then

Gotcha!

Signed.
Crock of shit.

Signed! It is utterly ridiculous that in this day and age we still get this shit, Bounty Bitches & NCT classes don't come with a 'high levels of judgement, hippy bullshit & anti-sciece sentiment' warning!

Signed. Good luck with your petition!

I remember Emma's Diary from Ds1 born in 1998 in Scotland.
I had to shoo away the Bounty rep who seemed to think I'd want to a) take a photo of my yellow baby (jaundice) and b) pay for it!

My younger DC is 23, and I never saw a Bounty rep, and haven't seen Emma's diary before, thank goodness. Will sign the petition ...

Good news - Derbyshire Live (the website of the Derby Telegraph) has a story on my petition today:

www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/news/derby-news/derbyshire-gp-slams-offensive-sexist-2032276

I can’t believe they are still giving this crap out, my daughter is 26 and I had it when I had her 😳

I had my middle child in Vienna, it was the only ‘Mum-centred’ birth that I had!

The one where I was the focus of what did I need. Also the one where I stayed in for a week after.

My 3rd baby involved me being told off for having visitors (my 2 older children) when due to complications I was still there 2 days later. My 3rd baby also involved UK midwives arguing at my nether regions as one of them gave me the injection that means I don’t birth my placenta. “But she said no” “But HE said it was Ok”

HE thought that from what they were saying that it was medically necessary and was just acquiescing. I did not want this and it caused me to be really sick. Why on Earth would a man be listened to over the Mum and patient! Due to how the other 2 births had been he had no clue and just left me to it! Cause ya know, it’s my body! Unfortunately it DID mean that when I struggled to answer a question in the middle of contractions, he agreed to something he thought he had to :(

Good luck with the pregnancy and birth XX

Is this a regional thing? I’ve had three DC in the last 15 years and never seen a copy. We did get a bounty pack but no rep by the bed, the midwives just handed them out