Renée Ann Cramer

Pregnant with the Stars

Watching and Wanting the Celebrity Baby Bump

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Ren¿Ann Cramer is Associate Professor and Chair of Law, Politics and Society at Drake University.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Stanford University Press
• Seitenzahl: 256
• Erscheinungstermin: 21. Oktober 2015
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 226mm x 152mm x 15mm
• Gewicht: 363g
• ISBN-13: 9780804796743
• ISBN-10: 0804796742
• Artikelnr.: 42795772

Autorenporträt

Renée Ann Cramer is Associate Professor and Chair of Law, Politics and Society at Drake University.

Inhaltsangabe

Contents and Abstracts
Introduction: Obsession with the Celebrity Bump
chapter abstract
This chapter explains why it is important to understand contemporary
interest in the celebrity baby bump, and situates that interest within the
law and society literature. The chapter argues that by compelling us to
"watch" and to "want," media coverage of the pregnant celebrity body
becomes an interpretive lens through which to view the twin pillars of the
state in late neoliberalism: an expansion of technologies of governance
through proxies that enable state- and self-regulation, and totalizing
commodification via global capitalism. The chapter explains the feminist,
sociolegal, and interpretive approach taken in the research and provides a
narrative of the author's interaction with the topic.
1Law, Popular Culture, and Pregnancy in America
chapter abstract
Using the famous Demi Moore cover for Vanity Fair as a frame of reference,
this chapter traces the changing ways that law and popular culture have
treated pregnancy, from the 1970s to the contemporary period. It examines
jurisprudence relating to pregnancy and pregnancy discrimination, as well
as abortion and birth control, to argue that women have achieved a measure
of equality under the law - while being constructed as more responsible for
the outcomes of their pregnancy than ever before. The chapter
simultaneously examines televised and filmic representations of pregnancy
in the popular culture - from I Love Lucy to Murphy Brown to Friends to
demonstrate an increasing comfort with pregnant women in the public eye.
2Celebrity Bumps, Boobs, and Booties
chapter abstract
This chapter examines media coverage of celebrity pregnancies to analyze
the normative and idealized views of femininity in evidence in them. It
argues that the media offers a limited range of possibilities for pregnant
women: they can be "good girls," "bad girls (and those redeemed by
motherhood," "hot, sexy mamas," and "yummy mummies." In all of these
possibilities it is clear that dominant norms of race, class, and
femininity are driving the media representations of these stars.
3Wanting the Bump
chapter abstract
This chapter examines the commodification of pregnancy, and all things
pregnancy related, through media coverage of celebrity pregnancies. It
argues that when women are told to want the pregnant celebrity body, they
are confronted by the objectification of that body and multiple modes of
commodification: of pregnancy, of the child itself - or at least its image,
and of the "rockin' beach-worthy post-baby body." And, even as women are
confounded by our inability to attain what they are told is perfection,
they are provided strategies and products that promise rescue, for a cost.
4Surveilling the Stars
chapter abstract
This chapter argues that when women watch the pregnant celebrity, they are
encouraged, to surveil, to gossip, and to judge. Ultimately, they are
enlisted in the regulation of the bodies of all pregnant women, even as
women are called on to accept and internalize their own regulation. The
medicalization of pregnancy and childbirth necessitates high levels of
surveillance during gestation and birth, and facilitates an intimate, but
mediated, relationship between the woman and the fetus. The chapter argues
that as women judge and regulate the bodies of pregnant celebrities, they
are simultaneously accepting and internalizing the very same regulations of
themselves.
5Governing the Body through the Bump
chapter abstract
This chapter investigates the various moments and places where governance
occurs of pregnant women. It shows that the state, through legislation and
jurisprudence, plays an active role in constraining women's choices about
and during pregnancy, and looks at very recent bills and laws that limit
women's power. It also argues that the state engages proxies: corporations,
media, and average people on the street - to govern pregnant women in the
most mundane and daily ways imaginable.
6Rebel Renderings and a Micro-politics of Inscrutability
chapter abstract
This chapter examines spaces of hope - coverage of celebrity pregnancies
that deviate from the norm. It argues that coverage of the pregnancies and
pregnant performances of M.I.A., Pink, and Christina Aguilera highlight
"bold bumps" that envision motherhood in rebellious ways. The chapter also
includes a discussion of surrogacy, lesbian-headed households, and single
mothers, and argues that they disrupt patriarchal assumptions of mothering
and pregnancy. The chapter closes with a look at the pregnancy of Mila
Kunis, about whom the press was unable to write a coherent narrative, and
whose performances of pregnancy remained inscrutable. Drawing on work by
James Scott and Boaventura de souse Santos, the chapter argues that
emancipation and liberation are achieved through small, inscrutable daily
practices of living under the radar of the watching state and its proxies.