WTF?

So it comes to my attention that Lionsgate Films has acquired the films rights to the classic pregnancy guide, What To Expect When You're Expecting. I don't know about you, but I think this is very strange and wonder if anyone at Lionsgate has even looked at the book. It's basically a list of everything you shouldn't do during pregnancy, replete with long lists of ways in which a woman can potentially kill her foetus.

Alli Shearmur, Lionsgate president of motion picture production, said:“‘What to Expect When You’re Expecting’ is a brand that knows no boundaries, and millions of readers can attest to the warmth, wisdom and humor of its voice.”

Uh, humour? Warmth? Are we talking about the same book? I think Heidi Murkoff relishes in scaring women into thinking that even looking at certain foods will result in the termination of their pregnancy.

Thumbs down.

New book tell women to bond with their 'bump'

I just came across this new book, Postcards from the Bump in which the authors claim:

"Pregnant women are often advised on what to eat and how to take care of their health to nurture their developing babies. But they are rarely encouraged to get to know their unborn baby's personality. But now comes Postcards from the Bump, a guide for expectant mothers who want to bond with their babies long before they're born."

"You've got double the reason to be happy and take care of yourself because if Mommy is happy, baby is happy," Beanland says."[We suggest] going on date with your bump [baby] and kind of checking out the playground or exploring the places you're going to take your baby to once he or she gets here."

I'm sorry but this makes me insanely angry. I'm all for pregnant women having access to books that are less prescriptive (less about telling you what to do) and more about enjoying pregnancy. At the same time, however, I find it very problematic that women are encouraged or expected to think about their 'bumps' as 'babies' from the moment they conceive. As many of you would already know from having your own children, pregnancy is not always fun and games. Many women don't actually feel pregnant until they feel movement or after having an ultrasound, and even then, the idea that the thing resising in your belly will be a child one day is an extremely abstract concept and even after feeling movement, a number of women in my study told me that they still had a hard time believing that the thing moving around inside was a baby.

While I'm sure the authors of the book have nothing but good intentions, I feel like the more we focus on the hummanness of foetuses and continue to construct them as 'babies' at earlier points in pregnancy, this can lead to a slippery slope in other areas of life particularly when it comes to the rights of mothers v. the rights of foetuses (or babies, depending on what you believe). One of the reasons that abortion is so contentious, aside from the religious points of contention, has to do with the fact that as we increasingly develop more sophisticated ways in which to view foetuses with ultrasound with extremely human-like features, this has set a new precedent for understanding when foetuses are actually 'babies' or 'human'. A book like this only contributes to the fact that women should feel as though they should be bonding to their foetuses at all times and does not account for the times when pregnancy is unwanted. Besides, encouraging women to think about the baby's personality outside of the womb is also problematic considering many births do not always end in happiness. Can you imagine a woman reading this book and having a stillbirth? I think the authors give too much credit to the imprinting that takes place in the womb and not enough credit to the influences of the outside world. Babies are not 'made' in the womb, their personalities are developed through interactions with the people in the world around them.

Anyone have any thoughts? How bonded did you feel to your baby/foetus during pregnancy? Am I totally wrong?

Mylene Klass: B grade 'celebrity' to 'author'

Two things about pregnancy never cease to amaze me: 1) the amount of books published on the subject every year and 2) the increasing number of books about pregnancy 'written' by anyone who has a 'Dr' in front of their name or appears regularly in the tabloids. Apparently, Brit 'celebrity' Mylene Klass is adding author to her long-list of accomplishments which include showering in a white bikini and...um..showering in a white bikini?

Her new book, My Bump and Me: From Morning Sickness to Motherhood - An Honest Diary of My Pregnancy, is described as Mylene's personal account of 'what pregnancy is really like' including 'everything she did wrong' and practical medical advice.

I find this very troubling. The book has not been released so of course I have not been privy to its contents. However, whenever a celebrity is doling out medical advice and/or providing advice to other women I would like to think that there is a nice little ghost writer somewhere in the process doing the research and making sure that the women buying this book are getting proper information. It is not clear that this book and the advice that is shared is supported by any research, feminist, medical or otherwise.

When it comes to pregnancy, the last thing women need is a celebrity telling them 'how it is' no matter how 'honest' or practical an account it claims to be. Sure Jenny McCarthy provides a refreshing account of pregnancy in her book, Belly Laughs, but let's be honest. Are the women that buy this book using it as their primary resource for pregnancy information? Probably not. Are they buying it for a good laugh and a bit of fun? Of course.

With so many competing discourses surrounding how to 'do' pregnancy these days and given the primacy of celebrity in our culture generally, I think it's really inappropriate that celebrities knowingly contribute to constructions of a singular pregnant body; the idea that that there is only one way to be pregant, that there is an 'ideal' pregnant body shape or that you are supposed to feel a certain way when you are pregnant. The truth is that celebrity experiences of pregnancy and motherhood are atypical; they do not translate easily into the realities of the average woman because celebrity women are subject to a whole range of surveillance/cultural criticism and pressures of performance that the average woman is not. It's irresponsible for celebrity mothers to pose as the down-to-earth average woman because she's not. Mylene Klass, no matter what she says, had a categorically different experience of pregnancy from the average woman just by virtue of being in the public eye. Why should anyone care what she did in pregnancy? It only sets women up for failure when they unconsciously (or even consciously) compare their experiences to hers.

Source: http://www.amazon.co.uk/My-Bump-Me-Motherhood-Pregnancy/dp/1905264240