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Zusatztext "Cramer sees our obsession with pregnant celebrities as a distraction from birth-control politics....She urges women not to let what is an individual experience be influenced by celebrity-pregnancy hype." Informationen zum Autor Renée Ann Cramer is Associate Professor and Chair of Law, Politics and Society at Drake University. Klappentext Ren¿Ann Cramer is Associate Professor and Chair of Law, Politics and Society at Drake University. Zusammenfassung "Check out that baby bump!" Online and print magazines! television shows! and personal blogs are awash with gossip and speculation about pregnant celebrities. What drives our cultural obsession with celebrity baby bumps? Pregnant with the Stars examines the American fascination with! and judgment of! celebrity pregnancy! and exposes how our seemingly innocent interest in "baby bumps" actually reinforces troubling standards about femininity! race! and class! while increasing the surveillance and regulation of all women in our society. This book charts how the American understanding of pregnancy has evolved by examining pop culture coverage of the pregnant celebrity body. Investigating and comparing the media coverage of pregnant celebrities! including Jennifer Garner! Angelina Jolie! Beyoncé Knowles! Kristen Bell! M.I.A.! Jodie Foster! and Mila Kunis! Renée Cramer shows us how women are categorized and defined by their pregnancies. Their stories provide a paparazzi-sized lens through which we can interpret a complex set of social and legal regulations of pregnant women. Cramer exposes how cultural ideas like the "rockin' post-baby body" are not only unattainable; they are a means of social control. Combining cultural and legal analysis! Pregnant with the Stars uncovers a world where pregnant celebrities are governed and controlled alongside the recent! and troubling! proliferation of restrictive laws aimed at women in the realm of reproductive justice and freedom. Cramer asks each reader and cultural consumer to recognize that the seeing! judging! and discussion of the "baby bump" isn't merely frivolous celebrity gossip-it is an act of surveillance! commodification! and control. Inhaltsverzeichnis 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. 1 Law, 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 responsib...
