I Am Not Budai, People!

This weekend, my brother got married.  While at the reception, I had three different people come up and rub my belly.  I don't mean a simple touch or pat.  I mean a full rub like one would rub Budai's belly.  And while these people were not strangers, they are a former teacher and two former students.  I like all three of them, but I'm certainly not comfortable enough to have them rubbing my belly.  To be honest, I think I got off easy with only three people out of the 250 people there doing this.  But it got me wondering... What makes people think this is okay?

It's only when a woman becomes pregnant that people feel comfortable rubbing her stomach.  I mean, before we announced the pregnancy, no one greeted me by doing that.  So why does it suddenly seem okay for people to say hello by rubbing my belly?  Do they feel that they're greeting my unborn child?  Do they think my belly is somehow no longer a part of me and is therefore okay to rub?

I googled "why do people rub a pregnant woman's belly" this morning just to see what was out there on the subject.  The only thing I got were a couple of different forums where belly-rubbers said that they just thought it was amazing to feel the baby moving inside a woman's stomach.  While I can understand that this would be neat, I cannot understand why people are already feeling on my stomach.  Even I can't feel Wolverine Baby moving yet, so there's no way anyone on the outside could. 

And I'm still baffled at why people do this uninvited.  I imagine that, once Wolverine's movements are able to be felt by others, I'll share that with friends and family.  But shouldn't I, as an individual, have the right to invite someone to place his/her hand on my stomach instead of just having people randomly reach out and feel me?  I think someone should do a study about this.  Maybe I'll just start my own little (unscientific, of course) study.  Each time someone touches my stomach without being invited, I will ask, "What makes you feel comfortable enough to rub my belly without my permission?  Did I send an unintentional signal to you that said it was okay?  Are you trying to communicate with Wolverine?  Do you greet all pregnant women this way?"  If you can come up with other questions you feel would be helpful in this study, please feel free to mention them in the comments.

My final observation on this is that, for me, there is a distinct difference between someone placing his/her hand lightly on my stomach and someone actually rubbing my stomach.  I am much less likely to think violent thoughts and contemplate hacking your hand off if you just place your hand on me.  For example, my brother put his hand on my stomach while we were taking pictures.  It didn't feel nearly as invasive as the rubbings did.  I'm sure the fact that he is my brother plays a part in how invasive it felt, but truly, the way he did it mattered, too.  It really felt kinder and less like I was being mauled.