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'You don't train for a marathon sitting on the couch': Performances of pregnancy 'fitness' and 'good' motherhood in Melbourne, Australia
This article explores informants' negotiations around the performance of pregnancy “fitness” and “good” mothering through exercise. Although exercise has been discussed as a way to “empower” middle-class women, I suggest that this position is problematic in its co-optation of the language of “feminism” and also in its lived experience. For my pregnant informants, “liberation” through exercise was clearly contradictory. In this article, I argue that pregnant women are encouraged to embody a “fit” pregnancy. Findings suggest that there is no time in a woman's life when she is “free” to be inactive; she must constantly engage in a high-level of physical activity to maintain an appropriately feminine body and to prove her “self” “publicly” as capable.
History
Publication title
Women's Studies International ForumVolume
34Pagination
50-65ISSN
0277-5395Department/School
School of Social SciencesPublisher
ElsevierPlace of publication
UKRights statement
Copyright 2010 ElsevierRepository Status
- Restricted