Balfe responded swiftly with a tweet that perfectly encapsulates the problem with this line of speculation. “To all those who think it’s appropriate to ask,” she wrote, “No, I’m not pregnant. Just having my period and was bloated… So yeah… Thanks for asking. Not really. Not all stomachs are washboards.”

Balfe is right, of course. It’s not appropriate to ask whether a woman is pregnant. But it’s also not OK to think that the only non-pregnant stomach is a “washboard” one, as she pointed out. It’s 2019. Surely we can agree on the fact that women’s bodies come in all shapes and sizes?

But what’s more, this endless pregnancy obsession and speculation has to end, because it reinforces the toxic narrative that women only exist for one purpose. By remarking on whether or not a woman is pregnant, it suggests that her only function in this world is to make babies. Forget acting in a beloved television series watched by tens of millions of people around the world, forget the film roles in forthcoming movies like Ford vs Ferrari, forget the charity work… If these pregnancy diviners are to believed, Balfe’s sense of worth and value is entirely derived from her reproductive status.

Outlander’s Caitriona Balfe just reminded us why it’s never OK to ask if a woman is pregnant