As we have known for awhile now, actress Cate Blanchett is pregnant. Photographed at the premiere of her new movie, I'm Not Here, Blanchett's bump is finally visible in this body-hugging dress coupled with sky-high stillettos. According to The Daily Mail, Blanchett's outward fertility coupled with her sexy footwear was unseemly:
"The five inch heels appeared to be more suited to the Manolo loving Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica-Parker) of Sex and the City, rather than a expectant mother."
I find this comment so bizarre. The global media is obsessed with pregnant women. The 'yummy mummy' is an identity that has linked sex and motherhood inextricably. We have seen pictures of Katie Price bearing her belly in mini-skirts and platform shoes, pregnant women of all sorts wearing tightly fitting tops that reveal a blooming belly and a whole range of hipster maternity jeans and fancy maternity lingerie that allow pregnant women to still feel sexy and glamorous in pregnancy. This is nothing new; yet, Cate Blanchett wearing a pair of stilettos is still somehow a confronting image for this particular journalist. What is it about stilettos that is so 'un-mother'? After all, pregnancy is the most visible representation of a sexed body that a woman can ever have. Being visibly pregnant is a firm indication that a woman has had sex. As stilettos are famous for their association with raunchy bedroom antics, porn and anything else even remotely titillating, the idea that a pregnant woman wearing them is somehow antithetical to imagery of an 'expectant mother' is probably correct on some level historically but totally detached from the culture of popular media that celebrates sexy pregnant women (Hello, Maxim?!)
The Daily Mail itself is a 'newspaper' (if you can call it that) that prides itself on dishing on pregnant women, commenting on maternity fashion and criticising pregnant celebrities when they don't look glamorous enough.
1 comment:
As a midwife, I am more concerned about what those shoes are doing to Kate's back!!! :)
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