Pregnant, pregnant, in a state, in a state of good hope ... There are many terms and expressions that can replace the word "pregnant", but when it is not about language richness but of censorship, it may not seem so beautiful. There was a time not too far away in which the word "pregnant" was taboo on television.
This is a story starring the American actress Lucille Ball (1911-1989), the protagonist of radio, of several films and especially television series of great success for more than three decades, since 1940. When he had his second son in 1952, the series that bore his name, "I Love Lucy", was a solid success among viewers and pregnancy was included in the history of the program, although with "conditions".
Lucy Ball had her son in real life the same day that her character Ricardo Lucy gave birth in fiction, but before this happened there were several obstacles on the part of CBS for its realization, since they insisted that a woman pregnant could not appear on television, and in that you could not pronounce the word "pregnant" in the air.
The approval of several religious figures was needed, and finally the chain allowed the history of pregnancy, but insisted that the word "waiting" ("expecting") be used instead of "pregnant". Lucy's husband in real life and in the fiction of the series, Desi Arnaz, wanted to take advantage of this twisted situation by making the audience laugh when he deliberately pronounced "spectin" instead of "expecting."
The official title of the episode He used the French loan "Encinta" to avoid the word "pregnant" (Would it sound more glamorous to you?), So it would be called "Lucy Is Enceinte". However, it seems that the episode title never appeared on the screen. The baby starred on the first cover of the TV Guide in January 1953.
The worst of this story that could be a simple case of hypocritical puritanism is that the protagonist, Lucille Ball, had to face the executives of the CBS chain not only to not lose their job during pregnancy but to be able to include their pregnancy and The birth of the baby in a chapter.
Something that reminds us that, although more than sixty years have passed, we have made little progress in this regard, and we continue to meet women, actresses or not, who are unfairly dismissed from their jobs, or who are included in illegal clauses and discriminatory for their contracts, such as those that prohibit them from becoming pregnant.
Definitely, the word "pregnant" may no longer be taboo, but there are still many reluctances to accept normally and with full right the pregnancies in the working life of the woman (let's say it clearly: pregnant women are discriminated against), as well as reluctance to accept other words and facts related to motherhood, such as breastfeeding . We have not advanced so much ...
