Unwomanly Conduct

Morell, Carolyn

doi:10.4324/9781315866499

Cited by 32 publications

(15 citation statements)

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“…Taking these negative stereotypes of childfree women into consideration, Gillespie (2003) asks whether it is at all possible for childfree women to develop a positive feminine identity, separate from motherhood. Previous studies also indicate that childfree women create a strong childfree identity only after their reproductive period has ended (Bartlett, 1994; Ireland, 1993; Morell, 1994). As Gayle Letherby (2002b) notes, identity rests on the process of social comparison.…”

Section: Womanhood Motherhood and ‘Otherhood’mentioning

confidence: 97%

“…With the exception of some brief mention of women’s fear of the pain of childbirth and bodily changes related to pregnancies as some of many, yet not particularly central, motives for not having children (Park, 2005; Veevers, 1979) the body has been left unattended in studies of non-motherhood. Embodied claims about the absence of all ‘desire whatsoever to have a child’, ‘baby fever’, ‘maternal feelings’ or a lack of ‘a call to motherhood’ appear in some previous studies on voluntary childlessness but have not been further analysed or theoretically investigated (Fjell, 2008; Hemnell, 2010; Morell, 1994; Park, 2005).…”

Section: Womanhood Motherhood and ‘Otherhood’mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This explains why the finality of a sterilization decision was understood to make the childfree position too explicit, permanent and even ‘traumatic’ for the women (cf. Campbell, 1999; Morell, 1994).…”

Section: Constructing Differencementioning

confidence: 99%

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Silent bodies: Childfree women’s gendered and embodied experiences

Peterson

Engwall

2013

European Journal of Women's Studies

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This article reports from the first studies on voluntary childlessness in Sweden and addresses a so far neglected issue -the embodied experiences of childfree women. These childfree women reject and resist pronatalist understandings that conflate being a woman with being a mother. However, instead of explaining their childlessness by external factors, mentioned in previous research, the interviewed women created a positive feminine identity separated from motherhood with reference to their 'silent bodies', i.e. bodies without a biological urge to reproduce. Reducing voluntary childlessness to a mere result of biological determinism, the article argues, establishes a legitimate, natural position, less provocative and stigmatized in a pronatalist society. Nevertheless, paradoxically, drawing on biological determinism both challenges and reinstates pronatalism as it builds on the simultaneous acceptance of, and detachment from, the biological reproductive urge. The study hence highlights how persistent the social and cultural link between motherhood and womanhood is, but also how this relationship can be challenged.

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Section: Womanhood Motherhood and ‘Otherhood’mentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Womanhood Motherhood and ‘Otherhood’mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Silent bodies: Childfree women’s gendered and embodied experiences

Peterson

Engwall

2013

European Journal of Women's Studies

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“…iiiThe difficulty of how one can and should identify poststerilisation regret applies to all research in this area 4…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Autonomy, age and sterilisation requests

McQueen

2016

J Med Ethics

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Sterilisation requests made by young, child-free adults are frequently denied by doctors, despite sterilisation being legally available to individuals over the age of 18. A commonly given reason for denied requests is that the patient will later regret their decision. In this paper, I examine whether the possibility of future regret is a good reason for denying a sterilisation request. I argue that it is not and hence that decision-competent adults who have no desire to have children should have their requests approved. It is a condition of being recognised as autonomous that a person ought to be permitted to make decisions that they might later regret, provided that their decision is justified at the time that it is made. There is also evidence to suggest that sterilisation requests made by men are more likely to be approved than requests made by women, even when age and number of children are factored in. This may indicate that attitudes towards sterilisation are influenced by gender discourses that define women in terms of reproduction and mothering. If this is the case, then it is unjustified and should be addressed. There is no good reason to judge people's sterilisation requests differently in virtue of their gender.

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“…Since the 1960s, when feminism challenged the proposition that women and mothers were equal, the idea of motherhood by choice has spread in Western societies (Thorn & Yalom, 1982). Studies have shown that an increasing number of women in Western Europe and North America are choosing to remain childless (Bartlett, 1996; Gillespie, 2003; McAllister & Clarke, 1998; Morell, 1994, 2000). These Western studies have tended to highlight the attractions of a childless life, such as freedom, autonomy, and the increased opportunities to develop a career and relationships with other adults.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

An Autoethnography of a Childless Woman in Korea

Yang

2012

Affilia

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The study presented here explored the experiences of a Korean childless woman through selfreflection. The autoethnographic narrative describes the social encounters of the childless woman and how she constructs and presents her childlessness to others. It reveals her divided self experiencing ambivalence and inner conflict between her authentic self and her regard for cultural values. It shows her efforts to achieve the integration of the self and her struggle for destigmatization. The article focuses on a woman's freedom of choice and highlights the need to empower childless women in a pronatalist society. Implications for social work professionals are discussed.

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Unwomanly Conduct

Cited by 32 publications

References 0 publications

Silent bodies: Childfree women’s gendered and embodied experiences

Silent bodies: Childfree women’s gendered and embodied experiences

Autonomy, age and sterilisation requests

An Autoethnography of a Childless Woman in Korea

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