How we see pregnancy past and present

Arts & Ideas

BBC

Society & Culture

4.2 • 599 Ratings

🗓️ 30 January 2020

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

From Hans Holbein sketches to Beyoncé on Instagram – Anne McElvoy looks at the changing image of pregnant women in a new exhibition at the Foundling Museum. We hear about the cultural history of breast feeding with academic Jessica Cox and marvel at the story of a rabbit breeder.

In 1726, King George I sent a doctor to examine Mary Toft after it was reported that she had given birth to over a dozen rabbits. Karen Harvey retells this story in a new book called The Imposteress Rabbit Breeder: Mary Toft and 18th Century England.

We also look at ideas which were the focus of attention in Davos at this year’s World Economic Forum and the tone of debate – with the WEF’s Managing Director Adrian Monck, and The Guardian’s Economics Editor, Larry Elliot.

'Portraying Pregnancy: From Holbein to Social Media' curated by Karen Hearn runs at the Foundling Museum in London until April 26th.

You can hear an Essay from New Generation Thinker Corin Throsby on the Romantic period attitudes towards breast feeding here https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08wn2rm

We have more Free Thinking programmes looking at ideas around pregnancy, including this one which examines surrogacy and baby farming in the Philippines https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000573q

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron. Evil genius. He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it. That's like hiding at your own funeral. Yeah, a big, great gig. I'm Russell Kane. Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that is some level of genius. It also helps
0:21.2	it. It's a long time ago, right? It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream
0:26.1	van plays music when it's out of ice cream. Listen to evil genius on BBC Sounds.
0:33.3	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. Hello and thanks for downloading this Arts and Ideas podcast from the BBC.
0:41.2	In this episode, we'll be exploring how pregnancy and early motherhood have been viewed throughout the ages,
0:46.7	getting a debrief from Davos and into the sensational story of the imposterous rabbit breeder.
0:52.9	But before that, a quick word on something else.
0:57.4	Music that stops you in your tracks. And a man who became a hero. A composer who inspired the world.
1:11.6	I'm Donald the Cloud.
1:12.6	Join me as I make an epic podcast journey
1:15.6	through the life, music and ideas of Ludwig van Beethoven.
1:19.6	I'll be telling his story in unprecedented detail throughout 2020.
1:28.3	The Secret Love Affairs, his tragic hearing loss, disasters and triumphs, struggle and transcendence.
1:36.3	It's a story to inspire with music that just might change your life.
1:45.9	In 20 years of presenting Composer of the Week, I've never attempted anything this ambitious before.
1:53.3	I'd love you to join me. Just search for Composer of the Week in BBC Sounds and press subscribe. Hello, it's a few years since I was last pregnant, but a memory of being a prima
2:12.1	gravida never really leaves you. The transition from single being to someone hosting another life is profound,
2:19.3	but there's an all too human mix of existential mystery and the more mundane practicalities,
2:24.3	a swollen stomach, the roller coaster of motherhood and breastfeeding. It feels a bit like a chrysalis
2:30.6	transformation. As a new exhibition on pregnancy and art points out, until the 20th century, many women
2:37.4	spent most of their adult lives pregnant, yet this fact was often hidden in portraits over
2:43.1	the past 500 years.
	...

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