Choice & Excess

I thought Oliver's analysis of Hollywood's characterization of pregnancy and the pro choice/pro life argument was interesting in that it seems to reflect a general view that Hollywood often projects of women: one in which women are rather shallow, empty objects waiting to be fulfilled by something else, whether it is falling in love with the perfect guy, having the ultimate life of leisure, or having a child. It seems that these images support the idea of women as "the other," while also taking it one step further by saying that the only way we can become whole is through a man (marriage, family, etc.). I don't disagree that a woman can find her own, autonomous fulfillment in a marriage or children and I think both can be beautiful things. That said, I think the hyper emphasis on absolutely needing those things to be happy or have purpose objectifies women in such a way that they are a means to an end. It made me think of an op ed that came out in NYT last week that discussed how fetal protection laws are slowly pushing women to provide the perfect uterine environment because it is their duty as a mother and wife.

Here is the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/13/opinion/the-error-of-fetal-homicide-laws.html?_r=1

Pregnancy: Choice & Excess

In her chapter, Kelly Oliver analyzes Hollywood's "anxieties" over pregnancy as depicted in both contemporary and older films. She identifies the media's underlying, widespread issue with pregnant women is that "pregnancy and birth are still considered processes that make a woman like a beast or an animal out of control" (69). While I certainly agree with this phrase, I am surprised that the author did not focus on the common pathologization of women's "extreme" desires for a baby (aka for doing what society says they should be doing). Besides brief use of the words "neurosis" and "Sigmund Frued," the author barely touched upon how women's desire for babies is not only strictly encouraged in society, but it is also pathologized in a way.

Oliver talks about the films that feature older women who desperately want a baby and mentions how this is depicted as "baby hunger" in certain tabloids. However, the phrase I most often hear is "baby fever." The phrase is often on the headlines of supermarket tabloids magazines, and if you type "baby fever' tabloids" into Google, more than 17,000 results come up. Clearly, "baby fever" is an infectious disease that is marketed towards women, but it also serves to simultaneously reinforce cultural stereotypes while at the same time making women seem absolutely, infectiously crazy for living up to societal expectations. It even reminds me of how women were still treated for "hysteria" not too long ago. I would like to hear other's thoughts on this topic, though. Do you think a desire for pregnancy is pathologized, and if so do you think older women are are portrayed differently when it comes to pregnancy?

Choice and Excess

In Pregnancy: Choice and Excess, Kelly Oliver deconstructs Hollywood’s representation of pregnancy. The chapter that stood out to me the most was Craving Babies. In this chapter she deconstructs the Hollywood phenomena of representing women who do not want babies but fall in love with their babies when they give birth. This representation psychologically pressures women to not get an abortion by giving them the impression that if they get an abortion they will be giving up their happiness or access to happiness. This is very problematic and similar to the other representations of Hollywood that she deconstructs because it restricts women’s free will to get an abortion. Also by solely presenting happy mothers as child bearers, these movies assert patriarchal norms by stressing the importance of family and children. So in short what Hollywood does through these movies is to spread patriarchal propaganda to persuade the viewer to have a baby in order to attain "the ultimate happiness". Also as expected many of the movies that she deconstructs are directed by males. It is not surprising as only %7 of movies produced by Hollywood are directed by women.

Currently the Turkish President is also following the same subliminal tactic to brainwash people to only value women if they are mothers and reinforce patriarchal family norms. Since he was elected he continuously stressed in his talks that every women should have 3 children and condemned abortion as murder. Also recently he increased the number of children that Turkish women should have. Apparently now we need to have 4 children?! In Turkey abortion is state funded and a women can get an abortion for free up to 10 weeks. After 10 weeks it depends on the doctor’s decision as if the baby is threatening the mother’s health a women can still get an abortion for free, otherwise she pays for the abortion. So on paper, Turkey has pretty good laws but definitely the president’s non-sense speeches are effecting women’s decision and existence in society.

Pregnancy: The Issue in Choice and Excess

This essay seems to take issue with “Hollywood” portrayals of pregnancy and the pro-life/choice argument surrounding abortion, and I think the problem is more about cultural expectancies and perceptions. These Hollywood portrayals are both based in cultural perception and perpetuate them, but at the same time, there is some truth to the stories. If there wasn’t truth in them, people wouldn’t want to see the movies. Even horror movies where the fetus is some paranormal being plays on real fear. On a side note, nobody wants to see a movie about a pregnancy (or live) isn’t raffled with complexity; a mother who wants a child and gets one or doesn’t want a child and chooses abortion (after an unexpected pregnancy) and everything stays stagnant in her perceptions and actions, doesn’t make for a good story. Stagnant ideals and desires don’t always portray real people. (This isn’t to stay that perpetuating stereotypes about pregnancy, abortion, and motherhood within the cinematic framework isn’t problematic.)

Perhaps the most shocking idea presented to me, was that the idea of white supremacy could permeate into the discussion. That white middle-class women need to push aside their careers (or even include children as part of the plan) in order to produce children with better odds of being successful and contributing society, fundamentally devalues life (and pregnancy and motherhood) based on racial and socioeconomic lines. Is abortion and the exercise of choice to not having children in different races and socioeconomic backgrounds viewed differently?

Pregnancy: Choice and Excess

All of the films, except If These Walls Could Talk and Waitress, were directed by men. 

In my opinion the majority of men filmmakers don't really intend to use abortion or pregnancy for moral reasoning, IE. Antichrist, various sci-fi movies, etc.. (why may actually push towards revealing how pregnancy and abortions are/ can be terrifying). In these films, I find an overall message: if a woman decides not to have an abortion, she will be happy; if a woman contemplates whether or not to have an abortion, she will be met with (a) miscarriage or (b) sadness, grief, disaster; if a woman has an abortion, she will either (a) die or (b) suffer. 

Five days ago, Vice published an article entitled "Jemima Kirke Speaks Out About the Stigma of Abortion". Jemima Kirke is best known for her role in the series Girls but she is, also, an important activist in the Draw the Line campaign (which deals with the fundamental issues regarding women's reproductive rights). Read the article if interested: http://i-d.vice.com/en_us/article/jemima-kirke-speaks-out-about-the-stigma-of-abortion?utm_source=vicefbus

Oliver describes a multitude of stigmas regarding abortion, including terms such as "excessive", "dangerous", "bloody", "monstrous", etc. Most of these stigmas have manifested themselves within the Hollywood film industry. She further references the  Romanian film 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days that exposes the consequences of the illegality of abortion. Countries within Central America, South America, Africa, South and Southeast Asia are home to some of the strictest abortion laws in the world (where by many women seek abortions elsewhere). 

Here is a link to map that indicates the abortion laws throughout the world: http://worldabortionlaws.com/map/

Kelly Oliver is my Idol

Sammy Karon

17 April 2015

Ideally, for this blog post I would just like to write this quote and then fill the rest of the page with exclamation points:

1.     “In sum, pregnancy and birth are still considered processes that make a woman like a beast or an animal out of control” (69).

2.     !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

However, for the sake of academia I will try to put my thoughts into more eloquent words.

Kelly Oliver’s piece, “Pregnancy: Choice and Excess,” hit me like a rock to the head. It honestly knocked all the small and separate thoughts I have had about becoming a woman into one place where they could finally build off each other and make sense. As a woman, my sexuality is either my only source of personal development or the only barrier to my personal development, depending on context (52). In college, I see it as a barrier: if I get pregnant I won’t be able to go to class every day, school won’t be my main priority and most of all, at least some people in my community of support will turn away from me. As a college woman, I don’t want to get pregnant, and because I have made that choice, I am distanced from my body and the involuntary organs that might contradict that choice.

Yet, in another context, pregnancy could be my only source of personal development once I move from girl à woman. Oliver touches on this with the phrase “both/and,” which represents the difficulty of being a woman biologically/socially and then some: there is more to being a woman than existing as one (54). Women have gifts and skills and power and things to share with the world, and ideally being a mother is one way for them to exist as both a woman and as their other values separate from their body.

Ultimately, thought, women don’t get to choose their context (most of the time). Humans can’t chose where we are born, and women, more so than man one could argue, can’t always afford to move somewhere new. In addition to that, I can’t think of a society I could move to where men wouldn’t subconsciously correlate pregnancy with, and this might sound weird, anarchy. There is not internal control for pregnancy: humans cannot make themselves or their partner get pregnant and they can’t prevent it either. It’s an irrational process in that way: reason does not cause or prevent pregnancy, and because of that, women are associated with a “less than” existence because they contain this source of anarchy. Right?

Pregnancy as Choice and Excess

Caleb Parsons

Kelly Oliver's piece "Pregnancy as Choice and Excess" delves into the representations of reproductive rights and pregnancy within Hollywood and popular media. At the core of Oliver's debate lies the depiction of innocence and a relational lack of control in motherhood. The difference between "accidental" pregnancies and "chosen" pregnancies blurs the reality that encapsulates pregnancy. While some women may want to become pregnant and engage in sex in order to achieve this, the physical act of conception does not follow the will of the mother. The debate around "choice" conceals connections to class and race as well. The portrayal of white, middle class women who are "baby hungry" can be humorous to audiences, with the narrative typically ending with the woman discovering that traditional family life leads to existential fulfillment. On the other side, many women do not have the luxury to decide between family and work. In the film Precious, the protagonist navigates the terrain of teenage motherhood in a violent household. Impregnated twice by her father, and facing additional abuse from her mother, Precious struggles to liberate herself from her traumatic past and harrowing experiences. This particular instance strays from popular representations arising in the entertainment and media industries. Ultimately, the issue of choice boils down to if the mother can "choose correctly." By resorting to traditional patriarchal paradigms that present successful women as child-bearers, Hollywood reinforces a culture that places the interests of the nuclear family over those of the actual women forced into these ideological corners.