Exercise

Abstract

As I have been arguing throughout this book, pregnant bodies are subject to an inordinate amount of social scrutiny in the contemporary West; women must ‘work’ very hard to achieve a pregnant body that conforms to social expectations of good motherhood. This chapter further extends this theme by looking at the multiple ways in which a good and fit pregnant body with a taut, tight ‘bump’ is perceived to be an achievement. During the period of research, a ‘fit’ pregnancy was, and continues to be, culturally sanctioned and celebrated. This message was most prominently communicated in the media through the pregnancies of two internationally recognised elite athletes: Paula Radcliffe, a British marathoner, and Jana Rawlinson, an Australian hurdler. Throughout 2007, both of these women were upheld as ‘supermums’ by the media in light of their continued commitment to twice-daily track workouts until just days before giving birth (see Franck-Dumas, 2007, p. 349; Gullan, 2007, p. 118).¹ These athletes were upheld as ideal models of ‘fit’ pregnancy, imbued with social and physical capital.²