Gayle Letherby

Childless and Bereft?: Stereotypes and Realities in Relation to ‘Voluntary’ and ‘Involuntary’ Childlessness and Womanhood

Drawing on my own personal and research experience and on the research of others I consider issues of definition, identity, support, and kinship in relation to lifecourse issues and the experience of ‘voluntarily’ and ‘involuntarily’ childless women. Motherhood is still considered to be a primary role for women and women who do not mother children (either biologically or socially) are often stereotyped as desperate or selfish. However, just as the experience of motherhood is complex and varied, so is the experience of nonmotherhood. Whereas some ‘voluntarily’ childless women define themselves as childfree and some ‘involuntarily’ childless women feel desperate some of the time, others are more ambivalent. In this article I draw on empirical work that considers the significance of ages and changes to the experience of nonmotherhood and that considers the particular and potential experience of older childless women. As well as demonstrating concerns and challenges, this work also suggests the need to challenge the caricature of the childless woman (and particularly the older childless woman) as bereft. In relation to this I extend my argument to consider both the myth that women who do not mother children of their ‘own’ always live a childfree life and critically evaluate the view that parenthood automatically leads to kinship support in old age.

Other than mother and mothers as others: The experience of motherhood and non-motherhood in relation to ‘infertility’ and ‘involuntary childlessness’

Abstract In this article I draw on the data from a recently completed research project within which I was concerned with exploring the social, emotion, and medical experience of ‘infertility’ and ‘involuntary childlessness’ (predominantly womens). Here I am concerned particularly with the status and experience of non-motherhood and of motherhood achieved following ‘infertility’/‘involuntary childlessness’. I suggest that non-mothers often feel stigmatised and perceive that others view them as less than whole, pitiable and “desperate” even though they often do not feel this way themselves. Women who achieve motherhood following ‘infertility’/‘involuntary childlessness’ (particularly social rather than biological motherhood) still feel that they do not meet the ideal. All of this leads me to suggest that both non-mothers and women who achieve motherhood in an unusual way can be seen as the “other,” as “stranger.”

Managing a Disrupted Lifecourse: Issues of Identity and Emotion Work

This article draws on the experiences of two groups of people: namely a group of people who have defined, or still define themselves as ‘infertile’ and/or ‘involuntarily childless’, and second, a group of people with cancer who have a terminal prognosis, who may be perceived as dying ‘prematurely’. We start by arguing that ‘infertility’ and/or ‘involuntary childlessness’ and terminal illness have a disruptive effect on daily lives and future expectations, and we are concerned throughout with how this disruption is managed. In particular, we explore how individuals who have experienced such a disruption to their lives manage both their sense of self and the self in relation to others. Within this we are concerned specifically with the emotion work which individuals engage in, and we explore the link between emotion work and lifecourse disruption.

Mother or not, mother or what?: Problems of definition and identity☆

Abstract This article draws on feminist theory and research and personal experience and considers problems of definition and identity with specific reference to the experience of nonmotherhood. In it the author argues that attention to motherhood/nonmotherhood is necessary in any discussion of differences and diversity between women.

Claims and Disclaimers: Knowledge, Reflexivity and Representation in Feminist Research

In this article I consider issues of knowledge, reflexivity and representation in feminist research. Using my feminist sociological doctoral research as an example I add to debate by feminist researchers and others concerned with epistemological authority. After setting the research scene and outlining what I feel I did and did not achieve both substantively and epistemologically I consider some of the contradictions and tensions in feminist research through a consideration of reflexivity and representation. Throughout I consider issues of auto/biography.

The meanings of miscarriage

Abstract This paper considers the emotional impact of miscarriage and the support that is needed and/or offered after such an event. Use is made of primary and secondary data. The primary data was obtained using qualitative methods, that is, in-depth, semi-structured interviews. Gender differences are considered, but the main focus is on womens experience.

“DEAR RESEARCHER” The Use of Correspondence as a Method within Feminist Qualitative Research

This article is concerned with the use of correspondence (communication by letter between researchers and respondents) as research data. It focuses on the authors own experience of this method and considers the methodological implications of correspondence as a research method for research in general and feminist research in particular. We argue that at present this method is not often used, even though it provides rich data and is a potential powerful tool for feminist research.

Objectivity and subjectivity in social research

Objectivity and subjectivity are key concepts in social research. This book, written by leading authors in the field, takes a completely new approach to objectivity and subjectivity, no longer treating them as opposed - as many existing texts do - but as logically and methodologically related in social research.

Quoting and Counting An Autobiographical Response to Oakley

In 1998 Ann Oakley published an article in Sociology entitled ‘Gender, Methodology and People’s Ways of Knowing: Some Problems with Feminism and the Paradigm Debate in Social Science’. Within this piece she suggests that the main methodological concern of feminist sociologists is whether qualitative or quantitative methods are the best way to find out about people’s lives. My reading of the feminist literature leads me to disagree and to suggest that the relationship between the process and product, between doing and knowing, i.e. how what we do affects what we get, while using both qualitative and quantitative methods, is the main concern of contemporary feminists. In this piece I present my own review of the feminist literature in order to demonstrate the centrality of the process and product/doing and knowing debate. I draw on a range of work, including other work of Oakley, and I also refer to my own experiences of research and show how issues of process and product/doing and knowing are relevant for me.

Sex as crime

As with its female counterpart, male sex work (MSW) has generally been regarded as deeply problematic, either because of negative societal attitudes to the selling of sex or the prevalence of psychosocial and economic problems amongst those attracted to MSW and the attendant health risks and dangers encountered whilst engaged in it. While the phenomenon of female sex work has received a great deal of criminological scrutiny, there has been comparatively less attention paid to male sex workers (MSWs). The research which we report on in this chapter aimed to further our understanding of the motivations of MSWs, the risks they face, their engagement with support agencies and their intentions for the future.