Journal of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement (JMI - York University)
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Triumphing Over the Body: Body Fantasies and Their Protective Functions
Get PDFPregnancy, birth, and motherhood exert tremendous pressure on all of a woman’s boundaries: physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and social. In this article, I will discuss psychological boundary functions in relation to reproduction from psychoanalytic perspectives with a somatic focus. Reproductive functions pose special challenges for female boundary development. As the boundary transgressions of motherhood exert unique psychosomatic pressure, anxieties about loss and vulnerability are elicited, requiring the development of psychological defenses. I analyze two narratives in Western mainstream culture: The Supermodel Mother and Orgasmic Birth. The Supermodel Mother is untouched by the vulnerabilities connected to pregnancy, childbirth, and motherhood. This narrative is formed in mainstream media through preoccupation with celebrity pregnancy. Orgasmic Birth is cultivated in home birth movements, where the notion of a more truthful childbirth is elevated to an ecstatic and spiritual event of female self-realization. I will argue that these narratives are illusory solutions to the boundary challenge of reproduction and that they serve to protect against body anxieties through idealization. They are narratives namely about the body because they serve to protect against pre-verbal material from an unconscious relational realm that is not available for verbalization. The protective function of these fantasies lies in their contribution to a feeling of triumph over the body
Elastic Mothers at a Crossroad: A Qualitative and Semiotic Analysis of Motherhood in Advertising in Toronto and São Paulo
Get PDFThis paper presents the key findings of my doctoral research, which argued that advertising reproduces and reinforces culturally constructed maternal ideals. To do so, I investigated three research issues: first, what meanings are associated with being a mother today; second, what maternal ideals are predominant within advertising messages and imagery; and third, how mothers and pregnant women negotiate these advertising signs. My theoretical-methodological framework includes semiotic and psychoanalytic concepts and qualitative research with mothers and pregnant women. The Canadian research corpus includes advertisements, published from 2010 to 2013 in Parents Canada, Canadian Family and Today’s Parent magazines. The Brazilian research corpus includes advertisements, published from 2006 to 2013, in Pais e Filhos and Crescer magazines. I interviewed pregnant women and mothers with children up to eight years of age in Toronto and in São Paulo, to explore how they perceive themselves as mothers and what they think about these advertisements. The advertising analysis aims at identifying thematic groups of advertisements with similar characteristics (maternal representations, images, messages, sales appeals and cultural ideals). I begin this paper by highlighting contextual similarities and differences related to being a mother today in São Paulo and in Toronto. Next, I present key findings obtained from the semiotic analysis of Brazilian and Canadian advertising. To do so, I introduce main ideas from different scholars, which inspired my work. Then, I summarize the thematic groups of advertisements mapped in Brazil, followed by a more detailed analysis of the Canadian advertising. Finally, I conclude by summing up the most important findings obtained in Canada, in contrast to Brazil
Reclaiming Childbirth: A DES Mother and Daughter’s Tale
No full textThis is a personal narrative about the author’s struggles with exposure to des (diethylstilbestrol)and subsequent decision to use natural childbirth methods when herdaughter was born. Her story illustrates the power of women’s decision-making indefining their own birthing experiences
Abortion and Mommy Memoirs: Vilar’s Impossible Motherhood:
Get PDFThis essay explores the genre of the mommy memoir for its abortion politics. Buildingon feminist critiques of the genre’s reliance on bio-essentialist ideas of motherhood, Iconsider both the potential and limitations within the genre for representing abortionexperiences. In this essay I analyze Irene Vilar’s Impossible Motherhood:Testimony of an Abortion Addict (2009) for its rhetorical appropriation of themommy memoir form in order to tell a story of reproductive excess
From Mothering Without a Net to Mothering on the Net: The Impact of an Online Social Networking Site on Experiences of Postpartum Depression
Get PDFThis research speaks to the desire expressed by women, health care professionals, and researchers alike, for an alternative, non-pharmacological or therapy-related intervention for postpartum depression (PPD). Interviews with twenty-two mothers and members of Momstown.ca—a social networking site focused on connecting mothers online and face-to-face—demonstrated new mothers are increasingly isolated and without community. However, mothers reported becoming members of Momstown allowed them to build a social network providing them company, camaraderie, and community, resulting in improved mental health. We conclude services like Momstown could be viable, alternative interventions for women with ppd, enabling mothers to survive and thrive postpartum
