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Hi. It is Hannah Harper Archives2017. Are we really still amazed that women are capable of working while pregnant?
News broke Wednesday that actress Gal Gadot was five-months pregnant while she did re-shoots for Wonder Women. She did the required stunts and even had a cutout in her armor for her protruding belly, which was covered in green so they could edit it out later. And, of course, there was last week's revelation that Serena Williams was eight-weeks pregnant while winning the Australian Open in January.
The reactions to this news have largely been breathlessly amazed. Gal Gadot has been heralded as a literal Wonder Woman and was also called a "Friggin' Superhero." And Twitter erupted into a frenzy after learning that Serena had a baby on board for her latest victory.
SEE ALSO: TIME is getting dragged for this weird tweet about Amal Clooney's baby bump during her speech on ISISOf course there have been plenty of other bizarre reactions to pregnant celebrities who continue to work. There was the Amal Clooney affair, when she showed up to give up a speech at the UN about ISIS and instead her baby bump got all the attention. We probably don't even need to run through all the attention Beyoncé has gotten for performing (as well as opting not to perform) while pregnant.
It's not that all these women aren't crazy impressive on so many levels. Serena Williams is obviously the greatest of all time, but winning the Australian Open would have been a huge accomplishment by any measure -- whether she was pregnant or not. Same goes for superstar human rights lawyers and superhuman entertainers.
But the thing all these women have in common is that they are just doing their jobs. Newsflash: Pregnant women do that all day, every day all across the world. It’s not especially mind-blowing to learn that we can do things while carrying a child (or children, in Beyonce and Amal's case) that we could also do before getting knocked up.
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable Pregnancy is not a disease; it does not automatically destroy you or transform you into a mindless baby machine. It's a miracle et cetera et cetera, but it’s also something that our bodies have evolved to handle. (Well, if you can call three straight months of vomiting handling something.)
Some people feel just fine -- totally normal or better than normal, even -- while with child. Others become debilitatingly sick. But what you're capable of doing or willing to do during pregnancy depends on a zillion factors.
It's great that Serena Williams and Gal Gadot and others like them felt up to a physical challenge. But it doesn't make them ultimate badasses so much as it makes them incredibly lucky -- lucky to have a healthy pregnancy that allows them to be up to working, lucky to be at the top of their fields and to have a choice about whether or not they want to work during pregnancy at all.
SEE ALSO: Instead of telling women who might get pregnant they can't drink, study suggests trusting themThere are plenty of women who have no choice but to show up to work (lest they lose their only source of income) and pull a 12-hour shift standing on their feet the entire time. It doesn't matter if they're up to it. And there are many more that endure all manner of even more hellish conditions. They might feel like Wonder Woman after surviving the day, but no one heralds them as badasses. No one considers their health or discomfort, no one accommodates them.
In theory there's nothing especially wrong with calling one pregnant celebrity a badass. But it all adds up; the more we normalize the idea that being super fit and active during pregnancy is the ultimate form of success, the more it makes regular people who can't pull that off while with child feel like they're falling short. It's the same thing that happens when we fetishize the post-baby bodies of celebrities.
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable It's a subtle message, but it's a pressure many people who've been pregnant absorb. Others feel free to judge you and just generally be up in your business more than at almost any other time in your life. And whether they're deeming you amazing or a terrible failure, you shouldn't have to hear it. You've got enough going on.
There is a more pernicious element in all this, too: it reinforces the idea that pregnant women should be up to any challenge and don't need any accommodation. If Serena can win a tennis tournament while expecting, you can show up for your waitressing shift with no complaint. If Wonder Woman can do her own stunts, you can sit at your desk and crank out spreadsheets.
Wrooooooooong! Pregnant women canbe tough, clearly. The process of giving birth is probably the toughest act known to mankind. But the ability to gut it all out shouldn't be the default expectation of all child-bearers everywhere. You shouldn't have to worry that you'll be seen as lazy or unprofessional if your body demands a break while you're pregnant -- and you certainly shouldn't have to worry about losing your job.
SEE ALSO: Here's a device that make dads feel pregnant. Hey, why are you running away? Come baaaack!Basically, what pregnant women want is what any woman -- any person -- wants: to be allowed to do what they're capable of doing on any given day, without everyone weighing in on whether they've done it right. And for a lot of them that involves continuing to do their job without any particular fanfare or special attention.
So whether you're winning your umpteenth tennis title or you simply managed to muster the energy to get out of bed in the morning, it should be fine. You shouldn't also have to feel like you need to say trim or ripped or be styled like a Kardashian or whatever it is.
Motherhood is not a competition, and there’s no right or better way to be pregnant. You're growing a freaking human being inside of you. That's badass enough.
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