In a powerful essay that appears in the new collection Feminists Don’t Wear Pink (and Other Lies), Knightley contributed a piece titled “The Weaker Sex,” which she dedicated to her daughter. In it, the actress recounts her daughter Edie’s birth story in intimate detail in an effort to combat the unrealistic expectations set on women to be perfect moments after bringing life into the world.
“My vagina split. You came out with your eyes open. Arms up in the air. Screaming. They put you on to me, covered in blood, vernix, your head misshapen from the birth canal. Pulsating, gasping, screaming.You latched on to my breast immediately, hungrily, I remember the pain. The mouth clenched tight around my nipple, light sucking on and sucking out. I remember the s—, the vomit, the blood, the stitches. I remember my battleground. Your battleground and life pulsating. Surviving. And I am the weaker sex?”
Knightley then explained that Edie’s birth came just one day before Middleton gave birth to her second child, Princess Charlotte. The pictures and videos showing the duchess smiling and holding Charlotte on the hospital steps came in stark contrast to what Knightley herself was experiencing after giving birth.
“We stand and watch the TV screen. She was out of hospital seven hours later with her face made up and high heels on. The face the world wants to see. Hide. Hide our pain, our bodies splitting, our breasts leaking, our hormones raging. Look beautiful, look stylish, don’t show your battleground, Kate. Seven hours after your fight with life and death, seven hours after your body breaks open, and bloody, screaming life comes out. Don’t show. Don’t tell. Stand there with your girl and be shot by a pack of male photographers.”
Keira Knightley Criticizes the Expectations Set on Kate Middleton After Giving Birth
bullshit central 