New Docu ‘Mid Drift’ Wants To Change The Way We View Women’s Postpartum Bodies

As women, we are all too familiar with the phenomenon of the media focusing on women’s postpartum bodies. There is an obsession of seeing how quick supermodels, celebrities and public figures can “get that pre-baby body back” that is displayed for all to see in every supermarket check out aisle. Entire articles and news segments on various TV shows are dedicated to celebrating just how fabulous some Victoria’s Secret Angel looks 2 minutes after giving birth and the audience oohs and aahs in agreement.

Sadly, this phenomenon has also put immense and unnecessary pressure on all of us average women who aren’t paid tens of thousands of dollars to have a personal trainer in order to have our bodies look a certain way before getting paid to walk a runway show, or shoot a movie, or a fashion campaign etc. We happen to think the obsession with celebrity’s postpartum bodies is not wrong, but it is definitely not healthy.

When we do start celebrating that our human bodies just endured a miraculous and super-human experience to bring forth another human into the world? Do we have to seek out some obscure medical journal to find that or can we expect the mainstream media to start focusing on this trend?

There’s a slim chance of that taking over the physical appearance focus because that’s what sells magazines so they’re not going to stop anytime soon. That’s why websites like ours exist, to be a counter-culture force against the negative and damaging messages for women.

Which is why we are excited to share with our readers an upcoming body-positive documentary called ‘Mid Drift’ which seeks to shift the way women’s bodies are talked about in relation to child birth and motherhood, and help women feel more comfortable and confident in who they are.

Minnesota-based filmmaker and mother of 4 children Angie Sonrode is the brains and heart behind this wonderful project who came up with the idea after hearing the voices of many other mothers in her life talk about their bodies. Angie became a doula and a yoga teacher after having her children, and became very invested in her community of mothers, who she wanted to help.

“When I became a doula eight years ago it became clear to me very quickly that many mothers share this struggle to accept and love the bodies they are left with post birth. I would hear mothers say things to me about how they had ruined their bodies and that they could never show anyone what was left,” she told the Huffington Post.

Her own struggles with body image (hello, her incredible frame bore 4 healthy children!!!) she realized there were more women who felt the way she did and that speaking up about it would help them feel less alone, and combat the negative messages aimed at mothers by some aspects of the media.

“Knowing that if I share my story other mothers may relate and perhaps it will get them to share theirs, and if we all start sharing maybe, just maybe, we can create an avalanche of change in the way everyone thinks about postpartum bodies. We don’t revere and honor bodies that have done the work of wonders: growing a human!”

Along with spreading a more empowering and positive message about postpartum bodies, Angie also wants to open up conversations with partners and find out how it affects them. This was an important aspect of her documentary because of her experience and relationship with her own husband Mike, who you can see in the trailer below.

“Throughout my life, I have been surrounded by women with alarmingly negative self body images. Ranging from family members, friends,  an ex-girlfriend, students I’ve worked with, and to my own life partner. As a feminist, partner, high school teacher, friend, brother, and father, it is time for me to dedicate energy and creativity towards a movement that will work to end this cycle of body shame that is all too prevalent in our culture,” he writes in a description on the Mid Drift website.

“I want to help create a culture where my daughter, my wife, my sister, and all mothers can be revered for their strength as mothers, rather than ridiculed and judged for having bodies that show evidence of said motherhood. Where mothers with stretch marks, sagging skin, or a soft belly can go to a public beach and not have to feel the need to “cover up” the body that has created life and that this body is simply judged as “that of a mother,” rather than “fat,” “ugly,” or one that should be insecurely hidden,” he continued, adding that it is imperative partners play a supportive role in helping redefine standards of beauty for mothers by choosing to encourage them.

In the documentary trailer Angie talks about being inspired by photographer Jade Beall, whose A Beautiful Body photo series has been shared around the world. We’re not surprised Jade’s work has powerfully impacted women globally, as it shows women sans clothing, with their children, celebrating them how they are just like a glossy gossip magazine cover would when portraying a celebrity who has lost a lot of weight after giving birth.

If the message from the media has been “you should only be celebrated for how you can get back to your pre-baby size”, both Jade’s photos and now Angie’s documentary are standing against that in a united front (with many other women, brands, campaigns) saying “you should be celebrated for who you are right now, and for the miraculous event your body just experienced in giving birth”.

On the ‘Mid Drift’ website, Angie says she wants to help mothers stand in front of the mirror and accept they are truly beautiful, not “I’m beautiful, but…”

“Whether you love or loathe your body, this film and this movement is for you. We want to start a conversation that I hope will never end. One in which mothers do not make excuses for their shapes or scramble to cover up tugging at their shirts and smoothing out their stretch marks. One that brings mothers, daughters, sisters, sons, friends, and partners together in a love note to our postpartum bodies,” she said.

The tagline of the movie may be “exposing the soft underbelly of motherhood”, but at the same time it is uniting a strong group of women who deserve to feel sexy, empowered and valuable in all aspects of their lives as mothers, women and community members.

Angie has a GoFundMe campaign page where you can donate to help her get this important documentary finished and out to the masses. It’s not just a movie, it is a movement! And we love it!