Here's How Pop Culture Can Handle the "Older Mom" Issue With Humor and Grace

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If you've been reading this site or checking out my posts elsewhere, then you know I've been preoccupied with the issue of how the pop culture media handles "advanced maternal age" celebrity pregnancies. I still believe every woman, celebrity or not, has a right to privacy about her pregnancy, childbirth, or anything else to do with her body. But I agree that the growing number of celebrities having kids at 40-plus might be creating the illusion that it's always an easy proposition. What to do about this?

Many moms having kids in their late 30s or early 40s do have a relatively easy time of it—and the number of women having healthy and smooth pregnancies and childbirths at advanced age is, happily, on the rise. 

But for plenty of women in that demographic, fertility troubles or complications related to pregnancy or childbirth can make for a rougher, riskier ride. So whose responsibility is it to let younger women know that they now have plenty of options about when or how to become parents, without misleading them about the potential risks (physical and emotional) of waiting? Aha: Fiction can. As in, TV. 

As writer Erin Donnelly points out in her essay on SheKnows, "How TV is Finally Getting Older Pregnancies Right," smart TV shows are equipped to handle delicate questions about pregnancy with grace, humor, wit, and real-life insights. Case in point: The pregnancy of Tracee Ellis Ross's character, the 40-year-old Bow, on "Blackish" (above). On the show, Bow deals with preeclampsia (a dangerous condition that affects older moms more frequently than younger ones) as well as postpartum depression, which can impact any mom of any age.

TV shows do need to avoid venturing into paranoia-mongering ("OMG she's over 40!"); we've most definitely had too much of that already. But they can balance real talk with optimism and support, without putting actual human beings' privacy on the chopping block.

Here's to more storylines about women (and men) who delay parenthood, and about all the many joys, successes, blessings, and sometimes difficulties that can come with waiting. Hey, show-runners: We're watching.

Photo by Mingle Media TV via Wikimedia Commons.