Sally Johnson

Baby or beauty: a Q study into post pregnancy body image

The idea that women, particularly new mothers, are overly concerned with weight and body shape has much currency in our culture. The literature in this area is contradictory, some arguing, for example, that body image is integral to womens narratives of early motherhood, others that it is of peripheral concern. This paper presents the results of research conducted into womens body image after pregnancy. The study used Q methodology to explore the manifold understandings of women who had recently given birth. Research and piloting produced 60 statements identified as relevant to the concerns of new mothers. Twenty participants, who had given birth in the previous 3 years, were asked to sort these statements into quasi‐normal distributions. These sorts were then factor analysed to identify six dominant narratives: ‘family centred’, ‘stressed’, ‘happy mothers’, ‘missing personal space’, ‘supportive family’ and ‘mother/child oriented’. By focusing on the complexity of these narratives, rather than isolating correlational variables or entering into polarized discourses, a deeper reading of these accounts is possible. In other words, by exploring how women relate body image to other concerns, it is possible to learn more about how body image is constructed and the part it plays in womens self narratives.

Threatened identities: the experiences of women in transition to programmes of professional higher education

The aim of the research described in this article was to investigate how women experience the transition to programmes of professional higher education. The investigation took place in a school of a British university where the professional areas chosen were social work and health care education. Most of the participants were new to the higher education system and were entering as mature students, but a few were making educational transitions and had previous involvement in higher education. As the central focus was an investigation of subjective accounts, a phenomenological perspective was adopted and the methods used were mainly qualitative. A multiple methods approach to data collection was taken. The investigation took place over two phases, covering the period of transition to programmes over two consecutive years. Anxieties were commonly experienced by participants in the transition to their programme. Breakwells (1986) theory of threatened identities seems useful in understanding the emerging issues. Anxieties could be explained in terms of threats to identity ‘principles’; however, these arose from the social context and coping with them is not always psychologically based. Issues which appear to assist the transition are highlighted. Copyright

Socially sensitive lactation: Exploring the social context of breastfeeding

Many women report difficulties with breastfeeding and do not maintain the practice for as long as intended. Although psychologists and other researchers have explored some of the difficulties they experience, fuller exploration of the relational contexts in which breastfeeding takes place is warranted to enable more in-depth analysis of the challenges these pose for breastfeeding women. This article is based on qualitative data collected from 22 first-time breastfeeding mothers through two phases of interviews and audio-diaries which explored how the participants experienced their relationships with significant others and the wider social context of breastfeeding in the first five weeks postpartum. Using a thematic analysis informed by symbolic interactionism, we develop the overarching theme of ‘Practising socially sensitive lactation’ which captures how participants felt the need to manage tensions between breastfeeding and their perceptions of the needs, expectations and comfort of others. We argue that breastfeeding remains a problematic social act, despite its agreed importance for child health. While acknowledging the limitations of our sample and analytic approach, we suggest ways in which perinatal and public health interventions can take more effective account of the social challenges of breastfeeding in order to facilitate the health and psychological well-being of mothers and their infants.

A socially situated approach to inform ways to improve health and wellbeing.

Mainstream health psychology supports neoliberal notions of health promotion in which self-management is central. The emphasis is on models that explain behaviour as individually driven and cognitively motivated, with health beliefs framed as the favoured mechanisms to target in order to bring about change to improve health. Utilising understandings exemplified in critical health psychology, we take a more socially situated approach, focusing on practicing health, the rhetoric of modernisation in UK health care and moves toward democratisation. While recognising that within these new ways of working there are opportunities for empowerment and user-led health care, there are other implications. How these changes link to simplistic cognitive behavioural ideologies of health promotion and rational decision-making is explored. Utilising two different empirical studies, this article highlights how self-management and expected compliance with governmental authority in relation to health practices position not only communities that experience multiple disadvantage but also more seemingly privileged social actors. The article presents a challenge to self-management and informed choice, in which the importance of navigational networks is evident. Because health care can become remote and inaccessible to certain sections of the community, yet pervasive and deterministic for others, we need multiple levels of analysis and different forms of action.

Exploring Women’s Agency and Resistance in Health-related Contexts: Contributors’ Introduction

The series of articles presented here addresses the problematic issues of women’s agency and resistance in the context of feminist discursive research conducted by members of the Feminism and Health Research Group, based at Leeds Metropolitan University, UK, on the topics of women’s drinking, pro-anorexia, pregnancy, (hetero)sexual and romantic relationships and gender and risk in the workplace. A running theme within feminist research and theorizing has been the constraining and oppressive functions of women’s roles and constructions of femininity (e.g. Humm, 1992; Millett, 1971; Wetherell, 1995; White and Kowalski, 1994; Wittig, 1992). However, whilst the social must remain central in feminist analyses, critics have attacked deterministic explanations that obscure notions of agency (e.g. Morris, 1997). Foucauldian-influenced poststructuralism has enabled feminist work to explore women’s agency within various sites (see for example Currie, 2004 and Raisborough, 2006), with writers arguing that the subject can reflect upon the discourses and discursive relations that constitute her and that she has some leeway in choosing from the options available (e.g. Weedon, 1987). Further than this, it has been suggested that women have the potential to ‘rewrite’ ideologies of gender by subverting dominant discourses through the mobilization of ‘alternative’ or counter discourses that position them in more powerful ways (e.g. Eckermann, 1997). Here, discourse becomes a crucial site for active resistance to gender ideologies, which in turn opens up possibilities for positive action and social change (Burman and Parker, 1993; Gill, 1995; Wetherell, 1995). Women are not simply positioned by existing discourses but can position themselves within these, variably taking these up, resisting, negotiating and tailoring them to achieve a desired identity (Court and Court, 1998; Davies and Harre, 1990). However, at the same time, feminists have cautioned against neo-liberal, individualistic notions of agency and choice (e.g. Petchesky, 1986; Wray, 2004). The

II. Discursive Constructions of the Pregnant Body: Conforming to or Resisting Body Ideals?

In recent years feminist psychologists and other feminist scholars have brought our attention to the ways in which the female body is socially constructed and the implications that this can have for women’s health and well-being. Drawing on a range of earlier critical perspectives, Bordo (1993) describes the body as a medium of culture. In claiming this she employs Douglas’s (1966) conceptualisation of the physical body as a reflection of the social body in that central rules and hierarchies of a culture are inscribed on the body and therefore become reinforced. Bordo (1993: 165) also highlights how Bourdieu, Foucault and others argue that the body is not only a ‘text of culture’ but a ‘practical’ and direct form of social control. In this article I will first consider various feminist analyses of how gender is played out through the body in Western contexts. I will then go on to consider a specific example of how women deploy and resist constructions of the body from my own research on pregnant embodiment. Feminists have emphasized the strongly entrenched view that in order to be considered attractive and of value in Western culture women must be slim (see, for example, Bordo 1993; Orbach, 1978). The significance of physical attractiveness has been found to be more central for girls and women than for boys and men (Rodin et al., 1984), with greater restrictions and less tolerance of diversity in girls and women (Lee, 1998). In what Rodin et al. (1984) refer to as normative discontent, these ideals are seen as having implications for many women in that we experience some degree of dissatisfaction with our bodies. In her analysis of reproduction, Martin (1987) highlights how dominant medical metaphors are applied to women’s bodies, in that they are treated as machines and doctors as mechanics. She surmises that this may lead to a sense of alienation from the body and of a fragmented self, lacking in autonomy. In support of this, others argued that this widespread application of biomedical principles to women’s reproductive capacity undermines confidence in our pregnant and maternal bodies, reinforcing constructions of these as weak, defective and untrustworthy (see, for example, Davis-Floyd, 1994; Young, 1984).

Evaluating the audio-diary method in qualitative research

Purpose – Audio-diary methods are under-utilised in contemporary qualitative research. The purpose of this paper is to discuss participants and researchers’ experiences of using audio-diaries alongside semi-structured interviews to explore breastfeeding experiences in a short-term longitudinal study with 22 first-time mothers. Design/methodology/approach – The authors provide a qualitative content analysis of the participants’ feedback about their experiences of the audio-diary method and supplement this with the perspectives of the research team based on fieldwork notes, memos and team discussions. The authors pay particular attention to the ways in which the data attained from diaries compared with those from the interviews. Findings – The diaries produced were highly heterogeneous in terms of data length and quality. Participants’ experiences with the method were varied. Some found the process therapeutic and useful for reflecting upon the development of breastfeeding skills whilst negative aspects rel...

‘That’s just what’s expected of you … so you do it’: Mothers discussions around choice and the MMR vaccination

One of the major shifts in the form and experience of contemporary family life has been the increasing insertion of the ‘expert’ voice into the relationship between parents and children. This paper focuses on an exploration of mothers’ engagement with advice around the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. Much of the previous literature utilises a ‘decision-making’ framework, based on ‘risk assessment’ whereby mothers’ decisions are conceptualised as rooted in complex belief systems, and supposes that that by gaining an understanding of these systems, beliefs and behaviour can be modified and uptake improved. However, less attention has been paid to the ways in which mothers negotiate such advice or the ways in which advice is mediated by positionings, practices and relationships. Analysis of data from a focus group with five mothers identified three themes: (i) Sourcing advice and information, (ii) Constructing ‘Mother knows best’ and (iii) Negotiating agency. Despite the trustworthiness of advice and information being questioned, an awareness of concerns about the MMR, and health professionals being constructed as remote, ultimate conformity to, and compliance with, the ‘system’ and ‘society’ were described as determining MMR ‘decisions’.

‘I see my section scar like a battle scar’: The ongoing embodied subjectivity of maternity

Though many women may be dissatisfied with their bodies, maternity represents a period when the body deviates significantly from Western beauty ideals. However, the developing corpus of literature is contradictory and there is limited knowledge about the longer-term implications of maternity. Further, much of the early postpartum literature focuses on body image, precluding consideration of broader embodiment and other potential issues. Taking account of recent feminist critiques about acknowledging women’s reproductive capacities, the study reported here explores the embodied subjectivity of longer-term bodily changes resulting from pregnancy, childbirth and early mothering. The data explored are from three focus groups. Mothers were recruited from two universities in the North of England, UK. Data were transcribed and analysed thematically and discursively using a feminist and poststructuralist approach, while also taking account of where language was elusive. A number of contradictory, yet interrelated embodied constructions were identified including the aesthetic, the maternal, the suffering/sentient, the strong and the embarrassing body. New insights are offered, in that, not only are the postpartum body and the “work of mothering” inextricably linked, but also that maternal embodied identities are in continuous process across the life course and may have implications for health and well-being.

Young British Pakistani Muslim women’s involvement in higher education

This article explores the implications for identity through presenting a detailed analysis of how three British Pakistani women narrated their involvement in higher education. The increased participation of British South Asian women in higher education has been hailed as a major success story and is said to have enabled them to forge alternative, more empowering gender identities in comparison to previous generations. Drawing on generative narrative interviews conducted with three young women, we explore the under-researched area of Pakistani Muslim women in higher education. The central plotlines for their stories are respectively higher education as an escape from conforming to the “good Muslim woman”; becoming an educated mother; and Muslim women can “have it all.” Although the women narrated freedom to choose, their stories were complex. Through analysis of personal “I” and social “We” self-narration, we discuss the different ways in which they drew on agency and fashioned it within social and structural constraints of gender, class and religion. Thus, higher education is a context that both enables and constrains negotiations of identity.