To think that GPs shouldn't be promoting this sexist, outdated rubbish?!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Incredibly, this offensive, misogynistic, outdated publication is still being officially endorsed by the Royal College of General Practitioners.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.)

Meant to add I complained about Emma and her dire diary in 2010. Got no response

Never had this in Scotland...never heard of it..but it sounds awful.

Nor me, thankfully. It reads like something from a 1950's housewife book.

I am cheering you on, I was moaning about Emma’s Diary for all the years I was a midwife. Can’t believe it’s still going..

Your Twitter feed is hilarious though

Signing your petition too.

Not finished reading the twitter thread yet, but my favourite bit so far:

"I'm going to be a mum! How weird is that?" Not particularly weird if you've been having unprotected sex for five months, Emma!

On a serious note, I assume that there's money involved somewhere along the line.

GP's seem to have enough time to post on Mnet, no wonder we need diaries to help us.

have reported as this is to gain signatures for a petition not an AIBU.

I remember thinking Emma's diary could fuck the fuck off nearly 15 years ago, I avoided it with the two subsequent. And bounty reps, grrrr.

DS1 is 17 now, but I can still remember how smug and irritating Emma was. Can't believe it's still going - it was hopelessly outdated in 2001. Signed.

Just read your twitter feed and had to do quiet-snorting-laughing at work so my colleagues would think I was still working! :)

I've been fortunate in never being given Emmas diary. Bounty free stuff I kept, and were told to go away forcibly by DP post labour

Your article is great but I can tell you Emma’s Diary was mistrusted by midwives long before the 2000s. It’s never been great.

GP's seem to have enough time to post on Mnet, no wonder we need diaries to help us

Yes, curse those ghastly GPs. Especially the ones who use their (limited) free time to try and improve things for women.

You are completely right.

Romanyroots is Emma

I knew this rang a bell.

Emma's Diary faces fine for selling new mums' data to Labour www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/technology-44794635

GP's seem to have enough time to post on Mnet, no wonder we need diaries to help us

So GP’s should be working 24/7 with no breaks should they?

Your twitter thread is phenomenal!

I hope that eventually Emma did LTB.

Does the new Emma's diary have all the details of Emma's friends who had older twins and then had a new baby? It was all about how they were going to struggle with the twins accepting a new baby (twins were teenagers I think), and how the parents were going to struggle having a baby with a big age gap. I always thought if they have coped with twins one baby would surely be a doddle!

GP's seem to have enough time to post on Mnet

Shocking, isn't it? The lazy fuckers should be made to work 24/7 with no breaks, no days off, and certainly no internet.

Incidentally, why aren't you yourself at work right now...? I realise that being a member of the 'who can post what and when' police is fairly time consuming but I presume you have a real job with real hours seeing as you appear to be so invested in how everyone else spends their working day?

I love you.

The ICO has said it wants the UK's 11 main political parties to have their data-sharing practices audited later this year and said it also has "outstanding enquiries with a number of data brokers".

Oh yes.

Love your Twitter feed

Love your Twitter thread! I flicked through Emma's Diary 11 years ago when I was pregnant with DS1 but didn't bother reading it properly - none of it stuck with me.
My favourite book was Libby Purves' book, How Not to Be a Perfect Mother - that resonated strongly with me!

Fast moving! That was from Sarah's link which is very interesting

OMG I was literally just thinking about Emma's diary the other day! I saw some Flumps in Asda and I think thats what she called her unborn child?! I binned it pretty quickly (the crap leaflet, not the flumps!)

No, I'm not an Emma.
I just think in this day and age with so many cuts we need things like this.
Whilst tongue in cheek, during the working day we have a gp with time on hands to Mnet.
Mine hasn't time for this he's too busy, I know because his wife never sees him.