Doing pregnancy: pregnant embodiment as performance

SynopsisThis paper identifies and examines the social context and social interactions that facilitate the process of pregnant embodiment. It views the embodiment of pregnancy as a performance of “doing pregnancy” that involves learning, adapting, and performing. By using qualitative analysis of 42 interviews with women of diverse age groups, and social and cultural backgrounds, it is demonstrated that the embodiment of pregnancy as a process of doing includes: (1) learning to be pregnant through reassessment and reevaluation of bodily sensations; (2) adapting new routines of care for the body; and (3) performing normalized cues and routines of pregnancy. This paper demonstrates the social regulation of pregnancy through the analysis of pregnancy as a performance.