IN 2022, Ms Panashe Muteedzi gave a thumbs-up to some photos of a pregnant celebrity on Facebook. Days later, the now-mother of two girls saw a pregnancy photo shoot of an ordinary stranger, and again she “liked” it. That was the moment she decided she would do a photo shoot for her next pregnancy.
“For my first child I did not have a pregnancy shoot as it was during the Covid-19 lockdowns. But now I could,” said Ms Muteedzi. She said she wanted to document her pregnancy journey for her unborn child to see.
“I can show my child the stages of her pregnancy through the pictures when she grows up,” she said. Ms Muteedzi said most shoots she saw on social media were semi-nude, with the women covered only in thin lace material or with the belly exposed, but she wanted to do a covered-up shoot due to her faith. “I was born in a Christian family.
My father is a pastor. I have nothing against those who do naked pregnancy shoots; it is their choice, and they have their reasons,” she said. Zimbabwe has not been left behind in the global trend of baby bump photo shoots.
Photos range from fully clothed shots, to exposed baby bumps, all the way to fully nude images. The shoots allow women to celebrate motherhood and their pregnancy journeys, immortalising the moments in the hands of professional photographers. But the increasing popularity here comes up against cultural norms surrounding pregnancy, considered a private affair in which women do not publicly share the news a.