The lies we tell pregnant women - Sofia Jawed-Wessel Ted Talk

With the intent to dismantle systems of inequality, sex researcher Sofia Jawed-Wessel informs us how society alters its treatment of pregnant women to be an object of the community. She discusses a range of interrelated subjects including the objectification of women, the difference in how pregnant and non-pregnant women are treated, and how American schools lack major sex education programs.

"When a woman becomes pregnant, she leaves the realm of men's sexual desire and slides into her reproductive and childrearing role. In doing so, she also becomes a property of the community, considered very important, but only because she's pregnant", also known as the Willendorf effect. This alludes to how certain societal norms are altered for pregnant women, including strangers touching their bellies, often without even asking, being told by strangers what they can and cannot eat or drink, or asked private questions about their birth plan, only to be told that those choices are wrong.

Jawed-Wessel created a controversy in the comment section when stating that it is actually healthy for a pregnant woman to consume alcohol in small quantities, mentioning the experience of having a server deny the request for a glass of wine. She states how doctors don't trust women with the knowledge that alcohol may be healthy, especially if the woman is of lower socioeconomic status or of a minority. This mistrust from the medical community, she mentions, falls into the societal norms of individuals disregarding a pregnant woman's ability to dictate her own bodily autonomy, because she has been demoted to the role of being "cute". While the topic of alcohol consumption during pregnancy goes much deeper than is discussed in this short talk, it is clear that this is a taught debate between bodily autonomy and societal control. For example, Alcohol.org states how 20 states have legal repercussions for women who drink during pregnancy under a child abuse clause, though the punishments vary between state and by woman, as well as putting in place some protections for servers or restaurants who refuse to serve alcohol to a visibly pregnant woman.

It is clear that though pregnancy and the treatment of pregnant women varies dramatically between societies, cultures and time periods, though the argument for autonomy seems to be relatively recent. The concept that throughout history pregnant women have become objects of society was surprising to me, though I find it very important for individuals to be able to put themselves in the shoes of these women to attempt to understand how this alteration of treatment by others would impact them. I look forward to seeing more controversial, though informative and educational, talks from Jawed-Wessel in the future.

To watch her Ted Talk, click here.