The Empathy Belly garment gives the wearer an understanding of what it feels like to be pregnant.
Antenatal teacher Linda Ware has invented The Empathy Belly, a pregnancy simulator garment that helps the wearer experience up to 20 symptoms of being in the third trimester of pregnancy.
When teaching antenatal classes, Linda Ware found despite all the charts and pictures showing the changes pregnant women go through, men still say they do not understand.
There are so many changes that never occur to men.
In a bid to experience pregnancy first hand, Pat Kenny agrees to have The Empathy Belly strapped to his body. The garment restricts his breathing and puts pressure on his bladder.
Thank God I didn't have a pint before the show.
Linda Ware places weights into the garment to simulate a baby’s arms and legs and hands.
I’m just giving you insights you couldn’t get any other way.
The pregnancy experience is completed with the addition of some unattractive maternity wear. This enables the wearer to understand what it feels like to have a whole new self image.
Pat Kenny attempts the opening of 'Kenny Live’ wearing The Empathy Belly, which he discovers is a very different experience indeed.
The episode of ‘Kenny Live’ was broadcast on 1 June 1991. The presenter is Pat Kenny.
