[ Post a Response | The Sublime Desire of Cigarette Smoking ]
Posted by vesperae Whenever I encounter a pregnant woman smoking in the real world, I always feel a sense of concern for her unborn child. Would I ever say anything about it to her, or behave in an unkind way towards her? No, I would not, because I believe that this would be the height of inappropriateness on my part. I believe that I have no business judging any pregnant smoker or the realities of her addiction, since I am not her, and can’t possible know what her life is like. If I had an established and close social relationship with a friend or family member who was a smoker and became pregnant, I might gently suggest that she consider quitting or cutting down, but I would never bring it up more than once, or nag her about it. I would also do everything I could to support her decision to quit, but only if she told me that she wanted to and asked for my help in doing so. The image that I used for this week’s header is obviously contrived and staged with the intent of shocking the viewer in numerous ways, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that the model was wearing a pregnancy prosthetic, or if she was pregnant, that she didn’t actually smoke during the shoot. But beyond all ethical implications, which I completely respect and recognize, and which people are welcome to discuss here if they wish, I used this image to simply illustrate yet another facet of how smoking can change our impression of someone, and how complex and often paradoxical our impression of women especially can be. Madonna. Whore. Saint. Sinner. Holy. Unholy. Clean. Dirty. Selfless. Selfish. We are all of these things in varying measures, and it is this complexity that makes us interesting and compelling.
on March 12, 2007, 6:31 pm, in reply to "Re: Forum Head Image"
Hello Karlin, 
For many who are attracted to smoking, the unique Taboo appeal of smoking while pregnant can be especially exciting, and this image will certainly appeal to those who feel this way. And I certainly don’t judge anyone who has these feelings either, since I believe that they didn’t decide to have them or ask to have them in the first place.
* * * * *vesperae
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