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?
I really appreciate the connection you made between the neurosis/hysteria of Oliver's article and the tradition of portraying women as overly emotional. By using words such as baby fever/baby hunger, it evokes women as the crazy, emotional, irrational. Even fertility treatments for celebrities that are trying to get pregnant are always front and center of tabloids. I completely agree that the desire for pregnancy is pathologized, especially for older women (i.e. Jennifer Aniston). There's constant speculation; why hasn't she had a child? Is she a workaholic? Is there something wrong with her relationship? Can she not have a child?
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