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No Room for Baby Fat in Skinny Jeans: Promotion and Online Engagement with The No Room for Baby Fat in Skinny Jeans: Promotion and Online Engagement with the Yummy Mummy Discourse in US Weekly by Sarah A. Parkes B.A., Simon Fraser University, 2007 Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the Counselling Psychology Program Department of Education Sarah A. Parkes, 2013 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Summer 2013 All rights reserved. However, in accordance with the Copyright Act of Canada, this work may be reproduced, without authorization, under the conditions for “Fair Dealing.” Therefore, limited reproduction of this work for the purposes of private study, research, criticism, review and news reporting is likely to be in accordance with the law, particularly if cited appropriately. Approval Name: Sarah A. Parkes Degree: Master of Arts Title of Thesis: No Room for Baby Fat in Skinny Jeans: Promotion and Online Engagement with the Yummy Mummy Discourse in Us Weekly Examining Committee: Chair: Dr. Patrice Keats Associate Professor Dr. Sharalyn Jordan Senior Supervisor Assistant Professor Dr. Erika Horwitz Supervisor Associate Director, SFU Health and Counselling Services Dr. Marla Buchanan External Examiner Professor Education and Counselling Psychology University of British Columbia Date Defended/Approved: 8 August 2013 ii Partial Copyright License iii Abstract This study investigates how an entertainment magazine promotes the ‘yummy mummy’ (YM) discourse, identifies how alternative discourses are used to support or challenge the YM discourse, and analyzes how individuals engage with aspects of the YM discourse promoted by the magazine. Using discourse analysis, I investigate print and online articles published by Us Weekly magazine as well as reader’s responses to content which were posted on Usmagazine.com. The findings reveal that Us Weekly promotes the YM discourse by praising celebrity mothers who exemplify the YM aesthetic and by disparaging failed celebrity YMs, by positioning celebrities as being ‘just like us’, and by aligning the YM aesthetic with expert advice and tenets of the ‘good mother’ discourse. Readers’ engagement with the YM discourse is diverse and demonstrates how the YM discourse is taken-up, reproduced, enforced and resisted. The implications of these findings for women’s mental health are extensively discussed. Keywords: yummy mummy; perinatal; pregnancy; body image; media; feminine beauty ideals iv Dedication To my mother v Acknowledgements Some say that it takes a village to raise a child and the same can be said about a thesis. I have been exceedingly fortunate to have had a large village of supporters that have each contributed to the development of this work in unique ways. My committee members have mentored and supported me throughout this process and have been an integral part of this project. I am deeply grateful to my primary supervisor Dr. Sharalyn Jordan for her tutelage and enthusiastic support and to my secondary supervisor Dr. Erika Horwitz for her expertise and assistance. I would also like to thank Dr. Marla Buchanan for her involvement in this project and Dr. Patrice Keats for believing in my research topic and for chairing my examining committee. I am grateful to all of my family members and friends who have encouraged and supported me throughout this journey; everyone’s prayers and words of encouragement were truly appreciated. I would like to thank my nephew Adrian and my sister-in-law Keri for reviewing my work and my sisters for cultivating my interest in women’s experiences of pregnancy and motherhood and for deepening my understanding of these processes through their candor. I would like to thank my parents for nurturing my passion for education and for energizing my work by expressing their pride and enthusiasm. Finally, I would like to express special appreciation for my husband David and friend Jana, both of whom held my hand and reassured me through the pains of this labour. Jana was a tremendous source of support through this process and her editing expertise was invaluable. David was my cheerleader, confidant, comedic relief, chef, housekeeper, and benefactor and I am exceedingly grateful for his love and partnership. vi Table of Contents Approval .............................................................................................................................ii Partial Copyright License .................................................................................................. iii Abstract .............................................................................................................................iv Dedication ......................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgements ...........................................................................................................vi Table of Contents ............................................................................................................. vii List of Tables and Figures .................................................................................................ix 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................ 1 1.1. My Relationship With Pregnancy ............................................................................. 2 1.2. Background and Rationale ....................................................................................... 6 1.3. Significance of Research ......................................................................................... 7 1.4. Summary of Chapters ............................................................................................ 10 2. Literature Review ................................................................................................. 12 2.1. Deciphering Discourse ........................................................................................... 13 2.2. The Socially and Discursively Constructed Self ..................................................... 14 2.3. The Joy of Pregnancy ............................................................................................ 18 2.4. Gender and the “Good” Mother .............................................................................. 23 2.5. Expert Advice and Medical Surveillance ................................................................ 36 2.6. Yummy Mummy ..................................................................................................... 39 2.7. Can and Should Do it all ........................................................................................ 43 2.8. Fat Phobia .............................................................................................................. 48 2.9. Taming the Unruly Female Form ........................................................................... 54 2.10. Rationale for the Present Study ............................................................................. 66 2.11. Concluding Comments ........................................................................................... 69 3. Methodology ......................................................................................................... 70 3.1. Methodological Framework .................................................................................... 71 3.1.1. Constructing Discourse Analysis: Epistemological Foundations and Evolution ..................................................................................................... 71 3.2. Inquiry Process ...................................................................................................... 77 3.2.1. Research Questions ................................................................................... 78 3.2.2. The Corpus ................................................................................................. 78 3.2.3. Contributors and Confidentiality ................................................................. 81 3.3. Procedure ............................................................................................................... 82 3.4. Quality and Trustworthiness in Discourse Analysis ............................................... 86 3.5. Concluding Comments ........................................................................................... 89 4. Findings ................................................................................................................ 90 4.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................ 90 4.2. Celebrity Mothers are Just Like Us ........................................................................ 91 4.3. Tori “Yummy Mummy” Spelling: Can Good Mothers Wear Crocheted Monokinis? ............................................................................................................. 93 vii 4.4. Reese “Fit and Fabulous” Witherspoon: Good Mothers Wear One-Piece Swimsuits ............................................................................................................. 100 4.5. Vanessa “Dressed to Impress” Lachey: Maternity Musts for Yummy Mummies .............................................................................................................. 104 4.6. Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi: A Failed Yummy Mummy “Trades Partying for Pampers” .............................................................................................................. 105
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