Globe and Mail, Sat Dec 8 2012
By: Kate Taylor
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Catherine Elizabeth – the former Kate Middleton – is facing a media culture where pregnancy is highly scrutinized, as well as sexualized. It’s a social pageant of motherhood that celebrities play out for the common folk.
“There is a sense women’s bodies no longer belong to them in the reproductive arena, and you have to distinguish between appropriate concern and hysteria,” said professor Carellin Brooks, who teaches at UBC. She points out the rush to judge pregnant women seen drinking or smoking.
“This sense of ownership carries over to the way celebrities are watched when they are pregnant. … First, the [media] are on baby-bump watch, and as soon as the [celebrities] have given birth, they are on lose-the-pregnancy-weight watch. It’s incredibly scrutinizing.”
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