The Construction of a Consumable Body

Abstract

In this essay, I analyze various ways in which pregnant bodies are rendered consumable. Tracing our preoccupation with pregnancy diets, I argue that a pregnant woman is made responsible for producing a consumable body. Indeed, producing and maintaining a consumable, fetus-friendly body is a responsibility that women carry before, during, and even after pregnancy. The sphere of this responsibility is also ever-expanding: it goes from detoxing the body to disinfecting the household, and even to protecting the environment at large. I examine two conditions that help construct the maternal body as consumable: 1) the invisibility of the consumed body, and 2) the appeal to “nature” as a justification for consumption. As I will show, the default position of women as consumable is reinforced both by erasing the maternal body and by appealing to the “naturalness” of breastfeeding.

Should a Patient Who Is Pregnant and Brain Dead Receive Life Support, Despite Objection From Her Appointed Surrogate?

“…5,6 One might argue that keeping BR under life support against her previously expressed wishes would amount to objectifying her and treating her as a consumable body. 7 Seen this way, a woman serves as a mere means to preserve life, especially if she is kept on life support against her wishes in the early stages of pregnancy when the fetus is less likely to survive and hence the state's interest in the life of the fetus should not override the woman's right to personal autonomy and dignity. 6 Moreover, subjecting BR to life support against her wishes would undermine her constitutional right to make effective decisions about her own body.…”