Knocked Up and Knocked Down: Pregnancy and the Denial of Subjectivity

The female comedian, Ali Wong, perfectly

Ali Wong: Baby Cobra

captured the relationship between motherhood and subjectivity within her hour long Netflix special, Baby Cobra. She boldly criticized “how it takes so little to be considered a great dad and it also takes so little to be considered a shitty mom”. In a humorous example that earns her laughter from the audience, she explains that her husband is praised for accompanying her to pregnancy related doctor’s appointments. She goes on to say that he gets painted as a hero for playing Candy Crush on his phone while she gets her blood drawn. Wong makes it clear that this small effort exerted by her husband earns him praise, while everything she does as a pregnant woman is under close examination and judgement. Pregnant bodies are under constant surveillance, making it even more difficult for women to break free from the restrictive hold that society has attempted to place on them. Not only are all women subject to relentless judgment and critique by the public, but pregnancy becomes an opportunity for our patriarchal society to legitimate its desire to oppress the voices of anyone other than straight, white men.

When Susan Bordo asks, “are mothers persons”, she proposes the most simplistic, yet thought provoking question regarding the subjectivity of pregnant women. At the most basic level, of course mothers are people. However, as Bordo further explains, pregnant women, in fact, do not possess the freedom and autonomy that every individual is believed to be guaranteed. She showcases how, in the case of court-ordered obstetrical interventions, pregnant women become “regarded...as ‘mere body’”, while “her wishes, desires, dreams, religious scruples” are “easily ignored in (the doctor’s or judge’s estimation of) the interests of fetal well-being”. Not only is a woman’s autonomy quite literally denied in the example of court-ordered interventions, but all of her choices are restricted by her “duty of care” or her responsibility to protect her fetus. It has become apparent that pregnant women are actually not granted the right to the same subjectivity that their male counterparts enjoy.

Ellie Kemper, the star of the comedy series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, reveals how odd and unsettling it is for strangers to feel entitled to invade a pregnant woman’s personal space. In an interview on TODAY Sunday, she explains that both friends and strangers will touch her pregnant stomach without asking, which she feels is an indication that her pregnant body has become considered public property. Her experience with what she calls a “personal space violation” is not uncommon for pregnant women. Tonilyn Hornung published a blog that labeled these invaders of personal space “Belly Touchers”. In an extension of Kemper’s comments, Hornung makes it clear that just because she is with child, it does not mean that everyone is permitted to touch her without her approval. While the invasion of Kemper’s and Hornung’s personal space extends to strangers touching their stomachs without consent, there have been other countless women who have been subject to more extreme circumstances. The women who have been forced against their will to submit to obstetrical interventions, ordered by the court, are prime examples of what happens when society believes it can claim control over a pregnant body.

Chrissy Teigen's Instagram Post

The denigration of a woman’s personhood is made even more obvious on social media platforms, where many mothers and mothers-to-be document their unique experiences navigating the world of pregnancy and motherhood. Celebrities, such as Chrissy Teigen, have been subjected to wrath of Internet shamers who critique other women’s approaches to motherhood. Teigen, who has been open about her and her husband’s choice to use in vitro fertilization, posted a photo on Instagram that displayed her baby bump. The post received numerous comments that scrutinized the size of her body and made claims regarding the probability of her having twins. A fed up Teigen responded in a Twitter post where she exclaimed that these commentators needed to “get out of [her] uterus”. Even after she gave birth, she was criticized for being seen going out for dinner a week after her daughter was born.

While women are constantly under surveillance, the prying eyes of the public reach an extreme level when she becomes pregnant. Patriarchal society's inclination is to deny female subjectivity under any circumstances, but it becomes especially heightened when a woman is carrying a fetus.
As Wong points out, there is rarely a ‘right’ choice for a mother-to-be and she is constantly being shamed for every move she makes. The tendency of strangers to pass judgement on and critique a pregnant woman's actions is reflected within legislative discourse and process. When authoritative figures, irregardless of gender and personal experience, make restrictive and punitive decisions that affect women's lives, they fail to recognize female subjectivity. More than just a temporary condition, pregnancy somehow empowers strangers with license to pass judgment on women in particular. Fathers, when they are present, are rarely, if ever, held under the same spotlight of social glare. Women are, once again, subjected to the dominion of patriarchy.