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Aussie woman, Emily Tollenaar, has gone viral on TikTok after she compared her experience of being pregnant at 25 to the stigma of pregnant teens.
The fitness coach says it's been "incredibly jarring" seeing such negative reactions to her pregnancy.
"I seriously think being pregnant in your twenties is the new teen pregnancy,” says Tollenaar, "I swear the number of looks I get wherever I go... it makes me feel self-conscious about it, I want to cover up."
She told news.com.au that often people will stare at her belly "and then look at her face in shock."
Many young mothers resonated with Tollenaar's sentiment, with many of them sharing their experiences in the comment section of the original video.
"I went to a play group- they were talking about how embarrassing it must be to be a mum under 30 and then [they] asked my age, I told them I was 24 and got ignored the rest of the morning," one user wrote.
"My husband and I planned our first when we were 22, the GP asked if we wanted to keep it - everyone assumed he was an accident," says another.
Even at 35 years old, Kate Turner from Outspoken The Podcast says she "really resonated" with the video.
During a recent dentist appointment, Turner left the dentist gobsmacked when she revealed her age after disclosing how long it's been since she had her wisdom teeth taken out.
"She's like hang on how old are you and I said I'm turning 35 and she's like oh my god I didn't even think you were old enough to have children," says Turner, "and while most people would probably take this as a compliment I was like fuck am I walking around with people thinking I'm a pregnant teen."
So why do people judge women for having children at a 'young' age?
Is it because raising a child is more expensive than ever nowadays?
Is it because young women look and dress 'younger' than previous generations did?
Is it because women have more options when it comes to parenthood so they can choose to have kids later in life?
After all for previous generations, it was not only the 'norm' but rather 'expected' of women to have children as young adults.
So when is it actually socially acceptable for women to have kids?
Because if we have them in our twenties 'we're too young?'
But if we leave it to our late thirties or forties, we're still told 'we're leaving it too late?'
Can women ever really win?