Motherhood: Conflicts Between the Biological and the Social Dimensions - What Does the Brazilian Academic Production Tell?

Abstract

This bibliographical review presents a set of research about motherhood as a constructed social practice, the deterministic discourse of biology, and how it emerges in the training of biologists and teachers. The focus is on the Brazilian academic productions about this subject and its related aspects. About the methodological approach, the papers were raised from CAPES Portal in searches directed by descriptors previously defined. A set of 23 papers were found, and their analysis resulted in 3 thematic categories: 1. What is a mother?; 2. Breastfeeding; 3. What is a woman? - the biological discourse on stage. The results demonstrate the scarce discussion on specific topics. In general terms, discourses that speak directly about biological characteristics in women corroborate with the social place intended for them, over time, gave way to other sexist discourses, however masking under scientific neutrality. Within the production of scientific knowledge, it is evident that the purpose is to justify stereotypes in female and male bodies ways and, consequently, inequalities.