Angelina 'uncensored'

Ange is on the latest cover of Vanity Fair and she's not doing the proverbial 'Demi' although she does talk about being pregnant and Shiloh's caesar in Africa in which she found it necessary to comandeer an entire country in order to give birth. Oh and despite recent reports, she has not yet given birth to the twins in France....

On being pregnant:
“I love it. It makes me feel like a woman. It makes me feel that all the things about my body are suddenly there for a reason. It makes you feel round and supple, and to have a little life inside you is amazing. Also, I’m fortunate. I think some women have a different experience depending on their partner. I think that affects it. I happen to be with somebody who finds pregnancy very sexy. So that makes me feel very sexy.”

On Shiloh's birth:
“We were in this little hospital in Africa when Shi was born. I don’t think there was anybody else in the hospital. It was just a little cottage, the three of us. It ended up being the greatest thing…. I had a C-section and I found it fascinating. I didn’t find it a sacrifice and I didn’t find it a painful experience. I found it a fascinating miracle of what a body can do.”

Sorry, I'm just sick of Ange's sappy 'happy family' shtick. The article is called 'Angelina Uncensored' and for all intents and purposes, she's completely censored. Everything that comes out of the woman's mouth is just how happy she is, blah blah, how much she loves being a mother, blah blah. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Surely, motherhood is incredibly fulfilling but give us a little dark and twisted, a little bit of reality because no one can be that insanely happy nearly 7 months pregnant with twins and with 4 other children to look after (in spite of having a cavalcade of nannies). Motherhood is hard.

She's pregnant with twins. Surely, SURELY by this stage, she's not feeling so sexy anymore. The woman in my study who was giving birth to twins had to stop working at about 27 weeks because she was so uncomfortable that doing anything was a chore. I'm not going to qualify my statements here because any woman who has had twins knows that it's really hard work to be pregnant with two babies at once.

And what about the recovery from her caesar with Shiloh?! Sure, it's a 'fascinating miracle' that a doctor can slice your abdominal muscle in two and remove your baby in four minutes or less and you may not feel any pain during the surgery but what about after?! Give me a freakin break.

Oh and in case you had forgotten what Ange's 'bump' looks like (because we haven't seen enough pictures of her pregnant, Us magazine has an entire gallery devoted to her stomach) in the link below.

In other news, I'm happy to report that I printed out a full draft of my dissertation and had it bound....lots of work ahead for the next 7 weeks until submission but it's a big step forward..yay!

Source: http://www.usmagazine.com/angelina-jolie-brad-pitt-finds-my-pregnancy-very-sexy

Caesar movie

This is mini-movie (5 minutes) about why caesars are dangerous. Watch it:

Men don't have babies on their own

Headline: "Adam Sandler Expecting Second Child"

Does anyone else find this headline odd?

He has a wife. She is expecting their second child.

Sources: http://www.hiphop-elements.com/article/read/4/25215/1/
http://www.usmagazine.com/node/13387
http://www.usmagazine.com/node/11647

Another belly on parade...

*Yawn* News is that Nicole Kidman has already posed nude and pregnant and will appear on some magazine cover. Shot by Patrick Demarchelier, the most famous fashion photographer in the world. Im not sure what annoys me more; the fact that Nicole Kidman is posing nude or the fact that her face doesn't move when she smiles? Either way, get a new hobby ladies, nude and pregnant is so 5 minutes ago.

I didn't think this day would come, but it has. I'm over naked and pregnant. I don't get my nerdy researcher thrill anymore to find magazine covers littered with preggos, dreaming up all of the articles I can write. Naked and preggo is a very bizarre cultural phenomenon because for the most part, as much as we think we care about how celebs look when they're pregnant (in terms of how fat or thin they look), the truth is that the term 'baby bump' that has taken over our pop culture is about the 'baby' and not about the woman. Naked and preggo mag covers were groundbreaking because they were meant to put the woman back into increasingly medicalised images of pregnancy (hello foetus!) but the truth is they just reinforce all of the crappy cultural norms that we see in mainstream fashion photography; women need to be smooth and 'thin' in order to be beautiful naked. Now surely you're thinking how on earth can a pregnant woman be thin? Well, just look around. Most celebs are 'thin' and pregnant, no extra skin anywhere.

So I'm over naked and pregnant. Bring back the dowdy pinafores with weird ruffles and oversized bows. Or photos of preggo celebs with clothes on. At least they made for more interesting photos and a little something was left to the imagination. Sometimes I think that the reason all of these celebs want to pose naked and pregnant is not because they are 'celebrating' their fabulous birthing bodies. Rather, they are just proving to the world that they aren't 'fat' and they are still hot.

It's Friday in Melbourne. I'm tired. Perhaps I'll re-evaluate this post when I've slept for more than 4 hours.

Source: http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story/0,23663,23740914-7485,00.html

Christina Aguilera: post-baby weight loss

More ridiculous post-baby weight loss...Christina Aguilera has apparently lost 40lbs in 4 mths according to the new issue of Us. Seriously. Aren't we over this yet?!?

And then in the process of trying to find out how Christina lost her baby weight I noticed a new product being given to new celeb mums called 'Skinny Water' and it was launched on Mother's Day. Skinny Water 'offers zero calories, zero sugar, zero sodium, and zero preservatives'. I'm not sure that's much of an offer but according to the company's CEO:

"Staying fit and looking great is hard work for every busy mom, from Hollywood to Hoboken,” says Don McDonald, President and CEO of Skinny Nutritional Corp. “This Mother’s Day, treat mom like the family superstar she is. Don’t give her fattening chocolates, cakes, or candies. Give her Skinny Water, the perfect complement to a happy, healthy Mother’s Day celebration.”

Right, no wonder the mothers of Hollywood are trying to lose weight considering they are constantly bombarded with products that reinforce that if they don't they are bad mothers.

Sources: http://www.usmagazine.com/exclusive-christina-aguilera-reveals-her-bra-size
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/skinny-water-gets-chosen-for,376062.shtml

Gwyneth Paltrow: happy to erase all traces of motherhood

In a new interview with V magazine, Gwyn Paltrow describes how much she hated her post-pregnant body. After gaining 3 stone with Moses, she says:

"I didn't mind the big boobs. But I hated the stomach roll, the back fat and the post-pregnant butt. And it was so hard to get rid of. Especially the final 20lb."

I find this sort of commentary really confronting. Sure, I love the fact that Gwyn is being honest but I'm really getting sick of this complete disavowal of the post-baby body in the media. That somehow the photos above represent Gwyneth Paltrow better or are 'more beautiful' than the person she was immediately after having her babies. I'm troubled by the implication that the body in those photos is different to the body she had when she was pregnant or post-pregnancy.

What I find really interesting (and this is something I'm trying to sort out in my PhD work at the moment) is that there is this perception that the bodies that you have before, during and after pregnancy are actually different when in fact, it is the same body in different forms. What I mean is that surely Gwyn looks all raunchy and emo in the magazine cover shots but the truth is that is exactly the same body that she had just a few years ago, fat rolls and all, in a different form. You cannot get rid of fatness; it's always inside our bodies whether it is visible on the surface or not. The very ambiguity of fat (not a liquid that seeps, not inside or outside the body) means that it cannot be expelled physically or psychologically. It is through specific interactions and locations and in specific contexts that fatness becomes real for women and pregnancy is one such time. The constant emphasis on fatness and thinness, and more prominently the praise given to celebs who shed baby weight quickly is symptomatic of a culture that continually forces us to believe that fat is something that we can get rid of entirely. The truth is that for most women, there is no such thing as an 'ideal weight' because even when they reach their 'ideal' it is never enough. The fat is always there and to maintain anything resembling 'ideal' requires that women constantly monitor their diets and their bodies in order to stave off visible fat a little longer. In this way, fat never leaves. It is always in our bodies, constantly threatening to creep to the surface and Gwyn's 'hot mamma' post-baby photos are deceiving for exactly this reason. Paltrow knows that she will always have to maintain a specific diet and exercise regimen in order to keep her fat at bay.

I've spent the last three weeks thinking about fatness exclusively...can you tell? And by the way, apologies for the recent spate of short posts. My dissertation is due...very, very frighteningly soon.....

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1020274/Gwyneth-Paltrow-reveals-I-vices-poses-sexy-basque.html

More things we dont need to know.

A selection of headlines from this week:

Stressed pregnant women are more likely to have children with allergies

Pregnant Women Beware: Elevated Blood Sugar Levels Raise Your Risk of Complications, Study Finds

Pregnant women who use mobile phones are 'more likely to have children with behavioural problems', say scientists

The Risks of Snoring During Pregnancy And How To Stop Snoring By Simple Exercises

Seriously. Now you can't talk on the phone, snore, eat sugar or be stressed. Might as well just stay inside for 9 months. And not talk to anyone. Or look at anything remotely good to eat.

Sources:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=567192&in_page_id=1770
http://www.commonvoice.com/article.asp?colid=8472
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/healthmain.html?in_article_id=567125&in_page_id=1774&ICO=HEALTH&ICL=TOPART
http://www.pr-usa.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=106307&Itemid=83

Ange does a Demi

You heard it here first.

What does every pregnant celeb do to prove that a mummy is still yummy?

That's right. A magazine cover!

Ange is posing on the cover of the July issue of Vanity Fair shot by Patrick Demarchelier including a 12 page spread inside a la Demi.

Can't wait!










Source: http://www.nypost.com/seven/05162008/gossip/pagesix/we_hear_______111066.htm

Is this really news?

Prepare yourselves people. Angelina Jolie is *gasp* PREGNANT.

WITH TWINS.

I never EVER would have suspected.

Thank you Today. We needed the confirmation.

Ange said:

"Unlike most women, I love being pregnant." She added that pregnancy makes "you feel like more like a woman than you've ever felt. You just feel like everything about your body is there for your baby."

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24619988/

Happy Mother's Day

Depending on what part of the world you live in, it is (or recently was) Mother's Day. First order of business: Happy Mother's Day (especially to the new mums!). Next, there are some fantastic 'secrets' on PostSecret this week in honour of this special day we think about mothers/motherhood. A few great ones about pregnant/post-pregnant body image...For those of you that aren't in the know, PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard.

Check them out: http://postsecret.blogspot.com/

Elizabeth Hasselback post-baby in a bikini

Elizabeth Hasselback is back in action on the cover of Fitness just six months since birthing her second baby. According to the former View host:

"I finally told myself ... 'I've got some curves, I've got a bubble butt, but I don't mind, because it's what powers me forward when I run.' "

In order to get back into shape, Hasselback worked out intensely for six weeks with a wheat-free diet because apparently "her goal wasn't to lose weight she just wanted to eat healthier and have more energy."

Clearly. Working out hardcore for six weeks had nothing to do with the fact that she would be appearing in a bikini on a magazine.

Source: http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20198229,00.html

Liz's losing battle

Headline: Despite endless diets, Liz Hurley's curves are very noticeably growing. Is it a baby on the way or is she losing her battle to hold back time?

Why is it that a woman's stomach can only be 'fat' or 'pregnant' and never in-between if it is not unambiguously flat? Cultural norms continually reiterate that a distended stomach (and I don't see any sign of a bloated belly on Liz) indicates either pregnancy or fatness and nothing ‘in-between’. Whilst the stomach itself does not possess any inherent meaning, its public meaning is created depending on who is doing the ‘looking’ (for example, the media). This whole fiasco about Liz being pregnant or not reinforces the fact that women can never be 'in-between' pregnancy and non-pregnancy. If you are not one or the other, you are just perceived to be fat or in Liz's case 'losing the battle to hold back time'. *sigh*

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=564029&in_page_id=1879

Ange and her bump

Headline: Fit to burst: Angelina Jolie takes her huge baby bump for a helicopter ride

I don't know about you, but I hardly think that Ange looks 'fit to burst'. Um..she's a pregnant woman, not the Michelin man.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=563945&in_page_id=1773

The 'truth' comes out

The word on the street is Halle Berry has been looking so 'hot' in the last week because she's been shoving her post-baby body into Spanx, the girdle for the stars. She was snapped yesterday looking much more like every other new mother in the world with a bit of a tummy.














Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=563050&in_page_id=1773

Post-baby bodies

ABC News has a neat slideshow of pre and post-natal celebrity bodies:
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/MothersDay/popup?id=4305742