Knocked Up Knockouts: Pregnancy, Media, and the Sexy Bump

Abstract

The rise of the sexy bump imagery suggests there remains something to be gained in sexualizing the pregnant body. These sexy bumps, from Beyonce to Splendid, certainly suggest that there is-finally-a cultural appreciation for women's pregnant bodies.Sexy bump imagery serves to further strengthen one of our culture's most muscular myths-that a woman's desirability is her most significant asset. This chapter considers whether this imagery creates a space for pregnant women to feel sexy and sexual, or reflects a move to sexualize moments-such as pregnancy-that had until remained largely asexual. Conventional pregnancy imagery was staunchly devoid of sexuality and certainly left no room for discussions of women's experience of sex, nor did it consider pregnant women to be sexually desirable. The problem seems to be one of homogenization: increasingly,sexy media portrayals of women are not a type of depiction, but are the only way that women are portrayed.