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Pakistani-American influencer and content creator Marium Hosein is taking a moment to teach people that asking someone if they’re pregnant is in no way acceptable and we’re so glad she’s said it, because someone sure had to!

Hosein, a rather beloved digital creator based in New Orleans with over 260,000 followers, received messages from her followers asking if she was pregnant after posting a picture with her husband. In an Instagram post, she decided to help people understand why doing that was wrong.

“If they are — you’ll know. You do not need to satisfy your curiosity. God forbid women show the hint of having a belly — does not in any way signify a pregnancy. It’s just a belly. We all have one. And the presence of one DOES NOT MEAN that they are pregnant. The levels of consciousness that women have to display re their bodies is so sad,” she wrote in one of the slides of the post.

Hosein added that millions of women struggle with fertility and were placed on medication that could increase their weight, thus asking someone if they were pregnant when they weren’t could be “extremely hurtful”.

“And 99 per cent of women will not tell you this, because there’s SO much shame involved with looking pregnant and not being pregnant when you’re trying for a baby.”

She continued that millions of women never went back to having flat stomachs after giving birth, including her. “I have a belly. Sometimes I wear clothes that may accentuate it more than normal. It is NORMAL to have a belly. It is normal for it to exist. If you see it and it’s protruding, it is NOT always a pregnancy.”

The influencer maintained that it was no one’s business to know when some one was planning a family, and such curiosity needed to end, because some people struggled with it and most were not comfortable discussing the matter.

“To anyone who is trying to conceive, who has experienced loss, who is struggling with weight, I am so sorry if you’ve experienced the line of questioning that makes you not love yourself. You are wonderful. You are loved. You are amazing. And you need to politely tell people not to let their curiosity blur the lines of being rude.”

Hosein clarified that she was not pregnant and simply wore something that tied above her belly. She added that she was a mother to three children, had a terrible metabolism and loved food.

“I have a belly that slumps over. Let’s please normalise women looking however they want without assuming they are pregnant,” she wrote.

In a video shared as part of the same post, Hosein said no one asked men about their weight, or said that they looked like the father of three kids, “with such a big tummy that you can balance a cup on it.”

“Meanwhile, if a woman births a child at 40, she’s called out for her age, but the uncle in his 50s is asked nothing, nor is he told to take it easy. Instead, he is commended. Forgive women. Stop looking at someone’s stomach and asking if there’s any ‘good news’.”

Hosein clarified that she was not upset that people messaged her to ask if she was pregnant, and maintained that she was proud of the progress she had made to lose weight and get fitter in the two years after birthing her daughter.

“I’m not even a 100pc there yet. I have a long way to go. But I chose to talk about this because of teaching and learning, [and] also because I myself did a little learning. We will all carry weight a little differently, and not everything is pregnancy.

“The obsession with someone being pregnant or not has to end. Who is pregnant, who is in relations with their husband log. It needs to stop. Getting this information isn’t helping you digest your food better. It isn’t helping you be a better person. So, let’s stop playing CID investigators.”

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves. There is absolutely no need to ask women if they’re pregnant — especially if you don’t even know them personally. Even if you do know them — whether they’re pregnant is really none of your business. Many people often justify this unnecessary curiosity by saying “it was just a question” or “what’s the harm in asking”, but the truth is, it’s no one’s business at all. You’re not entitled to ask people questions about their private lives just because you’re curious.

Respect people’s privacy and leave women’s bodies alone!