Pregnancy Police? Maternal Bodies, Surveillance and Food

Abstract

Drawing upon accounts of recent mothers and their own mothers in south-east England this chapter examines the ways in which experiences of pregnancy and early motherhood have changed over the past 40 years. Pregnancy is a biological process but exists within social, economic, political and cultural realms and is both spatially and temporally located (Longhurst 1999: 89) with individual women in different times and places experiencing pregnancy in a variety of different ways. In this chapter we take food as a lens to explore these changes by examining advice to mothers in relation to feeding the pregnant and infant body across recent generations. While it is clear that research evidence has identified the effects of food and drink on the pregnant and post-natal body leading to burgeoning new information and advice, women themselves have been peripheral to the evidence gathering.

We used to call them the pregnancy police. Quite a few girls at work were pregnant the same time as me and it’s unbelievable how much people think they have a right to interfere. We’ve all had experiences where complete strangers told us what to do, or what not to do. One of my colleagues refused to have lunch with me because I was eating tuna sandwiches and he said he couldn’t bear to watch me being so irresponsible to the baby. Another time I wanted to buy a hair colour in Boots, and the pharmacist came rushing out and said ‘You can’t buy that’ and I said I thought it was fine after the first three months. ‘No, absolutely not, you know, there is a very slight risk, but any risk is a risk.’ So I went to put it back on the shelf. Another colleague said that her hairdresser refused to highlight her hair, because it wasn’t worth the grief she would get from the other customers. My friend was furious; she said it was her choice (Kirsty, 36).