This just in: Scarlett Johansson doesn't want to get pregnant. She goes on to say that she wants to play a role in a Western as a brothel owner and that:
"It's only so long before people want to see me in a corset. So I might as well do it now."
Yes. Do it now before your body gets HUGE turns disgusting, revolting and PREGNANT!!
Blame it on my own pregnancy hormones if you will, but this little gem really pissed me off. Even with no recent movies, she just got a whole article in People magazine for just uttering the "P" word, yet reiterating that once preggers, one can never go back to sleek, corset-wearing vixen.
But really, the whole world does look a little different these days. If being a feminist is hard work, being a pregnant one is like working double-shifts. Thanks, Scarlett for reminding me that I'm growing larger by the minute. I've never been a skinny girl, (and HAVE worn a corset!) but suddenly I'm taking up A LOT more space. The feminist part of my brain is really happy about this. All my life da boyz have taken up much more space: sitting with legs apart, speaking louder, crowds of them in bars, stadiums of them at sports, gobbling all the food at family events and sucking up tons of space on TV. Now I get to take up space. And I love it. Move over, fat lady coming through.
More on feminist pregnancy later maybe. The whole "running a brothel" thing requires an entirely different posting, but are there any other preggers femininst/activists out there navigating a whole new world?
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Who's Career Gets a Boost Just by Mentioning Pregancy? Celebrities..
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.feministing.com/cgi-bin/movabletype/mt-tb.fcgi/11307
Wait, was she really saying that she wouldn't be able to wear a corset after giving birth? Does she know what they're for?
I might just be out of touch and not know enough about SJ's life to get this, but what does this quote have to do with pregnancy? I can see that a corseted body is not the most feminist image in the world and also the opposite of a visibly pregnant body, but I don't get your point.
A lot of people don't want to get pregnant; I certainly don't. Nothing against your pregnancy, its just nothing to hold the rest of the world up against.
Besides, celebrity press is all about once-pregnant celebs going pack to their "pre-baby bods". If you want to be objectified, it's there. I prefer to ignore it when I can. And I certainly don't see how its productive to blame the celebs themselves.
Here is the original link for the article in People: http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20250602,00.html
I read the "while I can" part of her comment to mean before getting pregnant, which is what the interviewers asked her about.
And the point is that celebs getting pregnant is a whole national pastime to watch, and I'm wondering what's it about? Even NOT getting pregnant now is apparently a story, as long as pregnancy is still mentioned. And while some choose to ignore the press, it is undeniable that it permeates our daily lives. How does this resonate with non-celeb pregnant women? Scrutinizing women's bodies is nothing new, true, but surely there is dialogue to be had around this, given a political climate that has set up tremendous standards (and double standards) for women around beauty, working, motherhood and the like. It is not about blaming celebrities, I think, but rather examining a culture that has put pregnancy up on a sort of Super Pedestal as the ultimate achievement, above anything else.
I could be missing something here, but I don't think Johansson said anything objectionable about pregnancy. I think the problem is that whoever titled the piece included a line about pregnancy that only took up two sentences in the article.
I read her corset comment as "people will only want to see me in a corset while I'm young," which is sad.
Yea, I don't think it has anything to do with pregnancy, just "I'll only be so young for so long" thing. Which is pretty sad.
And she does have a recent movie; that Spirit movie.
Even with no recent movies, she just got a whole article in People magazine for just uttering the "P" word, yet reiterating that once preggers, one can never go back to sleek, corset-wearing vixen.
Not so much. It's a short summary of a Harper's Bazaar interview, not a whole article. It took me about 20 seconds to read it. The main subject of the article is her new marriage to Ryan Reynolds, not about pregnancy. And she never said anything about not being able to wear a corset after giving birth.
I read the "while I can" part of her comment to mean before getting pregnant, which is what the interviewers asked her about.
Where? Not in the People Magazine thing.
It's also not in the Harper's Bazaar piece.
But before motherhood becomes a reality, Scarlett plans to conquer yet another frontier: the Wild West. "Every actor wants to work on a Western," she says simply. Would she want to be an Annie Oakley type? "I would run a brothel, like a madam or something. I'm working with what I've got. It's only so long that people are going to want to see me in a corset," she says with a laugh. "So I might as well do it now."
It looks like Harper's made the "you can't wear a corset after pregnancy" leap.
http://www.harpersbazaar.com/magazine/cover/scarlett-johansson-cover-story-0209
Post pregnancy would be the ideal time to put on that corset. After all, corsets hold in all that hideous fat you're sure to accumulate.
Oops I believe I misread that.
time to shift your perception of size ASAP.
If you are pregnant and you aren't growing- go see a doctor ASAP.
How can having a healthy pregnancy and growing normally for pregnancy, have you freaked out or worried?
don't answer that, just shift it.
If you are not growing- go see a doctor.
I may just be wacky, but I think she's saying that she wants to wear a corset to film a Western movie...while not pregnant. This makes perfect sense to me - if her character is not required to be pregnant she probably shouldn't be so while filming it. Not to mention the fact that corsets are designed to slim your middle, which is not ideal when you've got a squirmy fetus in there.
Plus, a pregnancy means changing body shape, changing hormones, and occasionally changing facial shape (my mom's face before and after she had me are almost like two different people) which are absolutely not ideal on set. If the movie is casting soon, it would make absolute sense that she wouldn't want to get pregnant.
I highly doubt she means no one will want to see her in a corset after she is pregnant. She would know as well as anyone the hyper-slim down Hollywood requires of all it's mothers.
Just to add about celebrity pregnancy - I think it's interesting how when this pregnancy craze started my initial feelings were favorable, as it was nice to see a (rich and famous, at least) woman still working, still going out, and still being praised even though pregnancy was definitely not the societal standard of beauty. I mean, I remember a time when pregnant women were supposed to disappear for nine months, and when they were seen they were excused from looking too fat. All of a sudden (I think around one of Reese Witherspoon's pregnancies, though I could be wrong) it was laudable for women to be out and about wearing chic designer maternity gowns. Perhaps I was just looking at it wrong, but I didn't see it a a veneration of motherhood but more of a veneration of a strong woman who can be pregnant, working, and glamorous, for what that's worth.
Now it's definitely morphed into an obsession and career-booster, along with the baby-as-accessory trend, which I'm not so stoked about. Thoughts?