To think that GPs shouldn't be promoting this sexist, outdated rubbish?!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Incredibly, this offensive, misogynistic, outdated publication is still being officially endorsed by the Royal College of General Practitioners.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

Nick said I could sign it, so I did.

OP your Twitter thread is brilliant!
I remember someone mentioning Emma’s Diary to me in my first pregnancy 6 years ago but didn’t look at it. I’m glad I didn’t now, looks like utter tripe.
soupforbrains that maternity ward sounds like heaven for new mums. A world away from the 6 to a room, no monitoring of number or timing of visitors, no way to leave your baby for a shower or to go to the loo and then turned out 24 hours later (even when I had a c section with complications).
And don’t get me started on Bounty - they’re a disgrace. DD1 was in NICU and rather than leave me in peace they kept making plans to come back and see me when I was in the ward. If I’d been more up together I’d have told them where to go but I was shocked after a terrible labour and the shock of having a baby in NICU. Taking advantage of traumatised new mums is the lowest of the low.

Hi folks,

As this is a petition, we're moving it to the e-petitions topic now.

I can't believe they still give this out. I got this when I had dd1 who is now almost 13. I was quite impressionable then and didn't realise what a load of old tut is was-but I found it in all her baby stuff when we moved house last year and was actually quite shocked at how stereotypical it was!

I don't object to any of the excerpts on OP's twitter feed.
Is this one of those ARE YOU REALLY A FEMINIST? tests that MNers like to run? I always fail these things.

Funnily enough I arrived home from work to a package from Emma's Diary!

Bounty sold my details!

Whenever I sign up for any sort of mailing list or club, I use their name as a hyphen with my first name so I sign up as Jane-Boots Smith, Jane-Tesco Smith, Jane-TheWorks Smith, etc. Then if I start receiving any marketing from third party companies I know exactly who it is that has sold my details and can get in touch with them to get me removed from their marketing list.

Great tweets!! Signed because I fucking hate Emma and her diary.

Sorry to hear I posted this in the wrong place! Thanks for moving, @lilymumsnet.

Signed. I remember being really annoyed with that booklet.

EwItsAHooman that is genius!

Read through the twitter thread and was unsurprised to read that Nick is a meat and two veg kind of man.

I remember receiving this from my Midwife ten years ago and thinking it was all absolute horse shite then.

Signed.

The company faces £140, 00 fines for selling new mum's data to the Labour Party.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-44794635

140000

@EwItsAHooman that's so smart!
Thank you for top life tip of the week :)

@ceilingrose I know! Why anyone would voluntarily give them their personal details I'll never know.

@proudthrilledhappy I bet Nick's a missionary position kind of guy as well

I'd never heard of Emma's diary before. What a load of sexist, patronising pish. Depressing, too!

Emma needs to be careful, she looks a bit rough after her long labour. A lick of mascara and a blow dry wouldn't go amiss, she needs to sort it out before Nick feels the need to say something.

@mammaschwifty He's having an affair, remember?! Why else would he have gone away for the weekend to a "conference" in week 13 when Emma admits she hasn't shagged him for a few weeks?!

I remember how cringey and outdated Emma's Diary was from my pregnancies (2002 and 2007) and I'm actually quite shocked it's still being pedalled out.

I had assumed £140k fine imposed on the company by the Information Commissioner's Office this year for passing on new mothers data illegally (to the Labour Party) would have put paid to it finally.

Emma's Diary Fined £140k by ICO

@MrsChollySawcutt I just don't understand why people are happy to give their personal details to a marketing company in exchange for a few free samples 🤔 I'm not massively well off myself at present (I recently joined a GP partnership, so I'll be hard up for a couple of years as I buy into the business) but I'd honestly rather do without stuff than give away my personal data in return for a few miniature freebies.

@NotTheNiceLadyDoctor oh yes, I'd forgotten that he had strayed on account of her less-than-perky bosoms. All the more reason to get to work winning him back. No excuses now, Emma!

I reckon Emma is the kind of woman who'd be posting on Netmums, not Mumsnet, and she'd have one of those tickers in her signature

Would the ticker be "bubs is the size of an avocado, #luvsmyhubby #omgmyboobsarehuuuuuge"

Signed, with delight! Thank you for sorting it