April Fools Day is coming up, and that means there will be a deluge of “jokes” on social media that, frankly, are just not very funny. And they’re all about tricking people into thinking someone is pregnant.
Maybe it’s a fake ultrasound photo — those are popular. Or it’ll be a reel with a woman telling her husband or boyfriend that she’s pregnant so we can all laugh at his horrified response. Even Justin and Hailey Beiber orchestrated a rather elaborate April Fools Day prank to trick their followers into thinking they were expecting a baby. And then, when people are upset, there’s always the pushback: it’s just a joke! Stop taking everything so personally!
Please.
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Let’s be real: pregnancy is not a funny April Fools Day joke, and people who are hurt by it are not being overly sensitive.
First, and the lesser of the problems, is how cruel it is to the people who want to celebrate with you. So often, people will rush to congratulate the happy parents, and this kind of prank is specifically designed to mock them. It’s taking love and kindness, and subverting it into cruelty. Stop and think about that: is that the kind of person you want to be? Good jokes aren’t made at another person’s expense. There’s nothing funny about being mean-spirited. It’s getting your loved ones’ hopes up, only to intentionally smash them to pieces, and them mock them for being sad.
Second, these April Fools Day jokes are a slap in the face to every person who has struggled with infertility or suffered a miscarriage. Let’s say you have 500 followers on Instagram — that means that, according to national averages, 60 of them struggle with infertility. Even more women have experienced miscarriage and pregnancy loss. Imagine all the pain, grief, and heartache those people are experiencing… and then imagine how it feels to have to congratulate someone on their successful pregnancy, only to then be told it was all a joke. It’s hurtful. It’s not funny. So what is the point?
April Fools Day is fun, especially when you have kids. But making a joke out of someone else’s pain is not OK, and it’s not a laughing matter. Aim higher, not lower — and come up with something better than a fake pregnancy.
