Life Science Encyclopedia

Pregnancy fetishism is a term used to describe the contexts in which pregnancy is seen by individuals and cultures as an erotic phenomena. Also known as maiesiophilia, this may include the sexual attraction for women who are pregnant or appear pregnant, the attraction to lactation, or an attraction for the stages of pregnancy such as impregnation or giving birth.^[1]

Many couples have sex while pregnant, even if neither partner has a pregnancy fetish. It is also worth noting that finding features of pregnancy attractive, including both those not normally found attractive in Western culture (the increased belly-size) and those that are (many pregnant women find that the condition of their hair and skin is better than normal) is not the same as having a fetish for them. However because of cultural taboos about sexual acts during pregnancy, people, including those who find pregnant women attractive, may perceive this level of attraction as fetishistic. It is therefore worth distinguishing between pregnancy eroticism and pregnancy fetishism.

Pregnant fetishism in popular culture

In 2006, artists and activists were stunned to find Britney Spears' face and body was used in a sculpture that depicts a woman squatting (arms on floor) on a bear rug, with her buttocks high in the air to signify childbirth (the baby's head and the vulva are visible). The New York-based artist, Daniel Edwards, (who had no permission from Spears) claimed his choice of Spears was to beautify and sexualize pregnancy, but was originally a pro-life political statement. The sculpture depicts Spears in the process of natural birth, although in reality, she opted for caesarean section. Britney Spears was either unaware that her image had been used in the controversial sculpture, or declined to comment. The pop star is a mother of two sons, and Spears had posed nude in a front cover of the September 2006 Vogue magazine, hence another pregnant Britney picture controversy.

In recent years, pregnancy fetishism has appeared in many television shows, although not as the main theme of the episode. Examples include House MD^[2] and Nip/Tuck.

Exotic Pregnancy in mythlogy and historical context.

  Throughout history there have been other artistic representations of pregnancy. For example, it has been suggested that the various Venus figurines' appearance is representing a pregnant woman.^[3] Although it has been suggested that the figurine merely represents an obese woman, obesity in women seems to have been unlikely given what we know of the lifestyle of the people of the era when the figurines were created. ^[4]

In addition to this, many goddesses from various religions - both Greek and Norse mythologies being examples - have depicted their fertility goddesses as pregnant, or holding a child.

References

See also

• Fat fetishism
• Male pregnancy