A Womb with a View: America's Growing Public Interest in Pregnancy

by Laura Tropp

Overview

Through history, interviews, anecdotes, and popular culture, this book examines pregnancy from all angles, covering changing expectations for pregnancy; new definitions of when fatherhood begins; the implications of new, earlier connections to the fetus; and the political, economic, and social consequences to the public.

In the 21st century, pregnancy is more than a biological event—it's a cultural phenomenon. A Womb with a View: America's Growing Public Interest in Pregnancy addresses how media influence and changes in society have exposed and commoditized pregnancy like never before, while technology has enabled us to share, record, and preserve all aspects of the pregnancy experience.

Each chapter of the book focuses on an aspect of the pregnancy experience, including efforts to peer in and bond with the fetus, the various ways of obtaining advice, the evolving role of expectant fathers, how pregnancy is depicted and treated in popular culture, and branding and marketing to pregnant couples. Interviews with those marketing products and services to pregnant women reveal how pregnancy is now "big business," while real-life stories from pregnant women and images from television and film serve to illustrate our culture's fascination with pregnancy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781440828096
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	01/09/2013
Pages:	193
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Laura Tropp, PhD, is associate professor and chair of the Communication Arts Department at Marymount Manhattan College, New York, NY.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

1 Outing Pregnancy: From Stork to Sonogram 1

2 A Window into the Womb 11

3 It Takes an E-Village 33

4 A Pregnant Pause 51

5 The Backseat Pregnancy 79

6 The Pregnancy Industrial Complex 105

7 Womb Time 127

8 The Big Let-Down 145

Notes 151

Bibliography 171

Index 187

Editorial Reviews

Tropp expands her analysis beyond the pregnant woman, arguing that cultural and market forces like reality television, pregnancy blogs, and the pregnancy advice market have created 'pregnancy voyeurs' who maintain the publicity of pregnancy through their spectatorship (p. 50). A Womb with a View does an excellent job of accounting for the multiplicity of actors invested in pregnancies and gives a great deal of attention to fathers' roles in public pregnancies. . . . [H]er critical analysis of pregnancy's publicity, her use of culturally relevant examples and her clear and accessible language make this text a valuable resource for students in media studies, women's and gender studies, and cultural studies.” —Feminist Collections

From the Publisher