Media portrayals of pregnant women, new moms unrealistic, study says

(University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) Media portrayals of pregnant, postpartum women unrealistic, women said in a new study by University of Illinois researcher Toni Liechty. Exposure to unrealistic images and messages fostered a host of negative emotions, such as self-consciousness about their bodies and feelings of depression, frustration and hopelessness when they were unable to lose weight as rapidly after childbirth as celebrities purportedly do.