The sacrifices of motherhood

British TV news anchor Ulrika Jonsson speaks bluntly about the physical toll of motherhood:

I really haven't had the world's most extravagant breast augmentation operation. It's just what happens to a woman's body when she has her fourth child. . . .
My body has done something miraculous by giving birth to a fourth baby - and I am proud to show off the after-effects of that, even if it is the kind of body I never thought I would inhabit. . . .
I have spent a small fortune purchasing unfeasibly large brassieres on the internet in an attempt to contain these two overgrown barrage balloons that now pass for my breasts. . . .
I feel I have generously donated my body, including my boobs, over a period of 14 years to the creation of my extraordinary brood.

When you think about it, it's really bizarre that Jonsson should feel the need to explain herself this way. A sane society would not expect a 40-year-old mother of four to retain the figure of her 20-something pre-maternal self, or derogate her for looking like a 40-year-old mother of four.

Yet we do not live in a sane society, so Jonsson and other women are subjected to irrational judgment. And therefore you will not be surprised to learn that, despite her expression of "pride" in her maternal figure, Jonsson plans to seek breast reduction surgery.