First, let me say how much I admire women that go through pregnancy. I would venture a guess as to say that I am NOT man enough to go through the emotional roller-coaster, sickness, body changes, discomfort, diet changes, etc. that so many women go through. When my wife was pregnant two years ago, my sense of empathy was heightened, I picked up some of the slack with household chores, and I became a more active listener to her needs. Even though I manned up a little bit for the 9 months, I still have no idea what it would be like to be pregnant.
Consequently, I came across a very bizarre experiment.
Marketing guru, Kevin Burke, helps companies who create products and services for mothers and children to more deeply connect with their intended customers. He recently wrote Man in a Mom’s World, featured on the MediaPost Blog. Burke writes:
I’m a man, a dad. I will never know what it is to be pregnant, give birth, or experience motherhood. I’ve always treated this as a factor that hopefully gives me more objectivity. But, ultimately, it is a handicap. It doesn’t mean I can’t be effective in my profession, just that I might need to take a different approach and work harder.
Several years ago, it occurred to me, instead of treating my maleness as a handicap, maybe it’s an opportunity. And that’s when an idea struck…The best way for anyone to understand someone else’s perspective is to walk in her shoes. So, I donned a pregnancy suit.
Then, Burke reveals the interesting details of how he executed his experiment. It seems that his experiment taught him a thing or two about women going through pregnancy. That said, he explains “It all boiled down to a single principle: Assuming to know what a woman is experiencing and how she is feeling about her pregnancy is a mistake. Everyone has a different pregnancy experience — even guys. 🙂
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