# Fanboys Mourn - Natalie Portman engaged and pregnant **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 27, 2010, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fanboys-mourn-natalie-portman-engaged-and-pregnant/565548 "2010-12-27T21:05:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fanboys-mourn-natalie-portman-engaged-and-pregnant/565548/41 "2010-12-29T19:30:45Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > She is a hardcore vegan and outspoken about political social beliefs. I don’t know if that translates to forcing her beliefs on others or if she is respectful. I feel like I’ve gotten a similar impression as **An Arky** but can’t place it, and don’t keep up with gossip to know if she’s done anything specific. She’s been both beautiful and famous since she’s thirteen, either of this can seriously screw your personality. Not a very good actress though (didnt see Black Swan, maybe she’s improved, otherwise she still plays the same way she did when she was a teen). ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fanboys-mourn-natalie-portman-engaged-and-pregnant/565548/42 "2010-12-29T19:40:53Z")
I don’t know if I’d say she’s a great actress, as opposed to good enough, but the person playing Padme Amidala was a body snatcher. ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fanboys-mourn-natalie-portman-engaged-and-pregnant/565548/43 "2010-12-29T20:07:04Z")
> [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](#): > > Shall we put Skald The Rhymer on suicide watch? I’ve already taken away everything sharp I could find around him. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fanboys-mourn-natalie-portman-engaged-and-pregnant/565548/44 "2010-12-29T20:10:06Z")
> [@tr0psn4j](#): > > I’ve already taken away everything sharp I could find around him. Isn’t that good policy at any time? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![tim-n-va](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim-n-va/32/3001_2.png) [@tim-n-va](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim-n-va)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fanboys-mourn-natalie-portman-engaged-and-pregnant/565548/45 "2010-12-29T20:20:02Z")
Regarding the thread subject: Her actual status and and fact-based information have no impact on her role in my fantasies. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fanboys-mourn-natalie-portman-engaged-and-pregnant/565548/46 "2010-12-29T20:25:17Z")
> [@An\_Arky](#): > > Admittedly, it was Page Six :o , which is why I only got an impression, rather than a fully-formed opinion. I remember something about some really stuck-up stuff and demands that people not dare deign be in her proximty, etc. Like i suggested, if you think you “know” anything substantial about her from what you read on Page 6, that says more about you than it does about her. > [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > She is a hardcore vegan and outspoken about political social beliefs. I don’t know if that translates to forcing her beliefs on others or if she is respectful. I feel like I’ve gotten a similar impression as **An Arky** but can’t place it, and don’t keep up with gossip to know if she’s done anything specific. So, she is a vegan and is outspoken about her “political social [sic] beliefs.” Big fucking deal. I’m a vegetarian and, as anyone who reads this board knows, i’m outspoken about my “political social” beliefs. Sarah Palin’s outspoken about her “political social” beliefs. So are the Dalai Lama and the Pope and Sean Hannity and Jon Stewart. I have no particular barrow to push in defense of Natalie Portman. All i know about her is that she’s an actress, she’s a vegetarian (i didn’t even know that until i saw her on Top Chef; apparently she has since become a vegan), and now i know she’s pregnant and getting married. But i just find it hilarious how many people are willing to pronounce upon the personality traits of people they not only don’t know, but have never met, and know about only from the pages of fifth-rate gossip magazines whose main purpose is to capitalize on the fact that most of us will never know these people. The media creates these personalities, it doesn’t merely report on them. If the people on Page 6 tell you that Natalie Portman is “high maintenance,” it’s not because this bears any necessary resemblance to how Natalie Portman actually is; it’s because that’s the picture of Natalie Portman that they want you to have. It’s like when the sports media portrayed baseball player Eddie Murray as an asshole and as a difficult teammate; it wasn’t because this is how Murray was, it was because Murray didn’t give the media the sort of fawning attention that it expects from sports stars. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fanboys-mourn-natalie-portman-engaged-and-pregnant/565548/47 "2010-12-29T20:31:38Z")
I have different questions – 1. So far as I know, her legal name is still Natalie Hershlag. Is she going to change it? 2. I also understand that she chooses to live in Israel because it makes her feel like she’s living her life as a Jew or something (don’t hold me to anything precise here) and that she has said that she would like to raise her children as Jews. Does her marriage to a French ballet dancer change any of those plans? ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fanboys-mourn-natalie-portman-engaged-and-pregnant/565548/48 "2010-12-29T21:46:59Z")
> [@chrisk](#): > > Isn’t that good policy at any time? 😉 As it leaves me my guns, and as one uses swords only as a back up these days, I’ll call it a silly policy. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fanboys-mourn-natalie-portman-engaged-and-pregnant/565548/49 "2010-12-29T21:49:24Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > As it leaves me my guns, and as one uses swords only as a back up these days, I’ll call it a silly policy. 😃 It did involve the long and tedious task of de-stingering your bees though. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fanboys-mourn-natalie-portman-engaged-and-pregnant/565548/50 "2010-12-29T21:55:11Z")
At this traumatic time, perhaps my fellow bachelors will find some succor in the knowledge that Scarlett Johansson is once again unattached. Line forms to the right, fellas. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fanboys-mourn-natalie-portman-engaged-and-pregnant/565548/51 "2010-12-29T21:56:28Z")
> [@tr0psn4j](#): > > It did involve the long and tedious task of de-stingering your bees though. Proving that even I get tired of some things, here is my new sig: \*The following RhymerBits are retired: flaming bee attacks, flying monkey attacks, any and all attempts to conquer the Earth, and worshipping Thor. Please update your records. \* ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fanboys-mourn-natalie-portman-engaged-and-pregnant/565548/52 "2010-12-29T22:00:25Z")
You know… That’s what someone who’s trying to takeover the world would want us to think. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fanboys-mourn-natalie-portman-engaged-and-pregnant/565548/53 "2010-12-29T22:10:54Z")
Vegans are high-maintenance pretty much by definition. Pregnant women aren’t hot because they aren’t supposed to be. (From an evolutionary perspective.) Some people may fetishize them, but that’s something else. The idea that a noticeably pregnant woman is attractive is, as Bill Maher said, one of the fictions in our feminized society. It’s on par with “every woman is beautiful.” (I notice there is no “every man is successful” or “every man is muscular” companion sentiment.) Pregnant women are quite likely attractive to their significant other, but it’s like kids. Your kids are awesome, other people’s kids are annoying. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fanboys-mourn-natalie-portman-engaged-and-pregnant/565548/54 "2010-12-29T22:15:32Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Vegans are high-maintenance pretty much by definition. > > Pregnant women aren’t hot because they aren’t supposed to be. (From an evolutionary perspective.) Some people may fetishize them, but that’s something else. The idea that a noticeably pregnant woman is attractive is, as Bill Maher said, one of the fictions in our feminized society. It’s on par with “every woman is beautiful.” (I notice there is no “every man is successful” or “every man is muscular” companion sentiment.) > > Pregnant women are quite likely attractive to their significant other, but it’s like kids. Your kids are awesome, other people’s kids are annoying. You’re mighty sure of some things no one could possibly be sure about, it seems to me. You sound like my ex-girlfriend saying that I had to be lying to spare her feelings when I said I preferred small-breasted women to large breasted ones. And who says what is _supposed_ to be hot? God? Aslan? Pat Robertson? Damn it, now I broke my no-rhetorical questions policy. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fanboys-mourn-natalie-portman-engaged-and-pregnant/565548/55 "2010-12-29T22:18:29Z")
Well, if Aslan says so … Anyway, it’s not so clear cut. After all, pregnancy is probably the most reliable signal of fecundity, which is an evolutionary trigger. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fanboys-mourn-natalie-portman-engaged-and-pregnant/565548/56 "2010-12-29T22:20:18Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > You’re mighty sure of some things no one could possibly be sure about, it seems to me. Then so are you, right? ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fanboys-mourn-natalie-portman-engaged-and-pregnant/565548/57 "2010-12-29T22:24:54Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Vegans are high-maintenance pretty much by definition. > > Pregnant women aren’t hot because they aren’t supposed to be. (From an evolutionary perspective.) Some people may fetishize them, but that’s something else. The idea that a noticeably pregnant woman is attractive is, as Bill Maher said, one of the fictions in our feminized society. It’s on par with “every woman is beautiful.” (I notice there is no “every man is successful” or “every man is muscular” companion sentiment.) > > Pregnant women are quite likely attractive to their significant other, but it’s like kids. Your kids are awesome, other people’s kids are annoying. Why aren’t they supposed to be? If a guy finds a pregnant woman hot, wouldn’t he be more likely to protect her and less likely to harm her? Seems like a good way to keep a species going. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fanboys-mourn-natalie-portman-engaged-and-pregnant/565548/58 "2010-12-29T22:33:20Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > At this traumatic time, perhaps my fellow bachelors will find some succor in the knowledge that Scarlett Johansson is once again unattached. Line forms to the right, fellas. I again demonstrate my freakishness in not finding Ms. Johansson especially hot. Her figure is nice; her face is blah, and faces are a deal-breaker for me. > [@EllisDee](#): > > Then so are you, right? I can demonstrate that at least one man, me, finds (healthy, happy) pregnancy to be an improver of a woman’s physical beauty. I obviously cannot prove that I don’t fetishize it, but I don’t collect or seek out pregnancy porn, though I’m sure it exists. But the difference is that you, not I, were making existential statements. You claimed that pregnant women are not _supposed_ to be attractive, as if there is some celestial authority determining who is and is not hot in the eyes of everyone. You agreed with Maher’s statement about pregnancy being attractive being a fiction of a feminized society, which is unfalsifiable, not to mention stupid. And your statement about other people’s kids being annoying is also flawed, it seems to me. A lot of people, me including, like kids in general. Little kids I don’t like are the minority, just as pregnant women I don’t find at least a little pretty are the minority. What is true for _you_ is not necessarily true for everyone else. It’s not necessary or, dare I say, appropriate to discount and implicitly insult the experiences of others by calling it a fetish. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fanboys-mourn-natalie-portman-engaged-and-pregnant/565548/59 "2010-12-29T22:44:34Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I can demonstrate that at least one man, me, finds (healthy, happy) pregnancy to be an improver of a woman’s physical beauty. I obviously cannot prove that I don’t fetishize it, but I don’t collect or seek out pregnancy porn, though I’m sure it exists. > > But the difference is that you, not I, were making existential statements. You claimed that pregnant women are not _supposed_ to be attractive, as if there is some celestial authority determining who is and is not hot in the eyes of everyone. You agreed with Maher’s statement about pregnancy being attractive being a fiction of a feminized society, which is unfalsifiable, not to mention stupid. And your statement about other people’s kids being annoying is also flawed, it seems to me. A lot of people, me including, like kids in general. Little kids I don’t like are the minority, just as pregnant women I don’t find at least a little pretty are the minority. > > What is true for _you_ is not necessarily true for everyone else. It’s not necessary or, dare I say, appropriate to discount and implicitly insult the experiences of others by calling it a fetish. There is nothing in this I don’t find comically stupid. It reads like the rambling of a 14 year old desperate to win the approval of his big sister. But hey, whatever you say. Obviously your viewpoint is universal, right? Or can I invoke your “at least one man – me – disagrees with you, so you’re wrong” stupidity? I will say it’s curious that you say you find pregnant women more attractive and yet you have no pregnancy porn. A quick look through any guy’s porn stash is usually indicative of what they find attractive. Maybe you’re the one guy in the world who doesn’t jerk off to what he’s hot for. Who knows. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fanboys-mourn-natalie-portman-engaged-and-pregnant/565548/60 "2010-12-29T22:56:50Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > There is nothing in this I don’t find comically stupid. It reads like the rambling of a 14 year old desperate to win the approval of his big sister. > > But hey, whatever you say. Obviously your viewpoint is universal, right? I didn’t say my viewpoint was universal. I said that _some_ men find pregnant women attractive, and doing so it not fetishistic. Others have already pointed out some evolutionary reasons why that might be true. I don’t see any benefit to me in discussing this further here; it’s a pointless hijack and apparently destined to get nasty. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fanboys-mourn-natalie-portman-engaged-and-pregnant/565548.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fanboys-mourn-natalie-portman-engaged-and-pregnant/565548.md?page=4)