Vivien Burr

Risky Business: Constructing the ‘choice’ to ‘delay’ motherhood in the British press

Over the last few decades the number of women becoming pregnant later on in life has markedly increased. Medical experts have raised concerns about the increase in the number of women having babies later, owing to evidence that suggests that advancing maternal age is associated with both a decline in fertility and an increase in health risks to both mother and baby. In recognition of these risks, experts have warned that women should aim to have their children between the ages of twenty and thirty-five. As a consequence, women giving birth past the age of thirty-five have typically been positioned as “older mothers.” In this paper we used a social constructionist thematic analysis in order to analyse how “older mothers” are represented in newspaper articles in the British press. We examined how the topics of “choice” and “risk” are handled in discussions of delayed motherhood, and found that the media position women as wholly responsible for choosing the timing of pregnancy and, as a consequence, as accountable for the associated risks. Moreover, we noted that newspapers also constructed a “right” time for women to become pregnant. As such, we discuss the implications for the ability of women to make real choices surrounding the timing of pregnancy.

Personal construct psychology methods for qualitative research

Personal construct psychology (PCP) has always been better known for its methods than its theory, but many researchers are not aware of the range of qualitative methods offered by a PCP approach. We argue that PCP methods have been overlooked as tools for the qualitative researcher and that they satisfy some key requirements of much qualitative research, such as the capacity to provide in-depth insight into personal experience, to establish a ‘democratic’ relationship between researcher and participants and to represent the participant’s ‘voice’. We illustrate several of these methods, drawing on research examples. We show how they enable participants to articulate their experience, and how they may be used as part of an in-depth interview. We conclude that Personal Construct methods provide opportunities for qualitative researchers to create innovative ways of researching personal experience.

Judging gender from samples of adult handwriting: accuracy and use of cues.

Abstract In 2 experiments, participants judged 2 samples of adult handwriting for gender of writer; their accuracy was significantly better than chance and improved with practice. In a 3rd experiment, participants who were not cued for gender of writer judged coded male and female scripts to be significantly different with respect to features such as carefulness, neatness, regularity, and apparent speed of execution. The participants cued for gender of writer on the basis of their judgments on stylistic features such as slope and roundness, which appeared to be subsumed within the “higher order” dimensions of carefulness versus confidence. The results suggest that the participants cued for gender of writer may have been influenced by gender stereotypes, leading to errors in some of their judgments.

Scholar/’shippers and Spikeaholics: academic and fan identities at the Slayage Conference on Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Matt Hills argues that cultural theorists have been unable or unwilling to transcend a dichotomy that places academic discourse and identities in the realm of the rational or passionless, and fan identities in the realm of the immersed or open. As a result, the scholar-fan and the fan-scholar have become liminal and transgressive persona. This article draws on the author’s own experience, and that of 13 other delegates who participated in the Slayage Conference on Buffy the Vampire Slayer held in Tennessee in May 2004, as a basis for exploring the way in which the issues of the fan-scholar identity are lived out. Questions addressed include the way in which tensions between fan and academic identities were manifested, and the ways in which individuals managed their fan and academic identities.

“For some people it isn’t a choice, it’s just how it happens”: Accounts of ‘delayed’ motherhood among middle-class women in the UK

Over the past few decades the number of women having their first babies over the age of 35 in the United Kingdom has increased. Women’s timing of motherhood is invariably bound up with a discourse of “choice”, and in this paper we consider the role choice plays in the timing of motherhood among women who have been defined as “older” mothers. This article is based on data from 11 semi-structured interviews that explored the transition to motherhood among “older” middle-class mothers. The interviews were analysed using critical discursive psychology. The women drew upon two dominant repertoires when making sense of their timing of motherhood. Within the first repertoire, “older motherhood as circumstance”, older motherhood was presented as the outcome of life circumstances beyond their control, with a lack of the “right” circumstances facilitating “delayed” motherhood. Within the second repertoire, “older motherhood as readiness”, women constructed themselves as (now) prepared for motherhood. “Readiness” was bound up with notions of self-fulfilment, yet also assessments of their ability to be “good” mothers. We conclude that, far from a straightforward choice, the timing of motherhood is shaped by cultural definitions of the “right” circumstances for parenthood, but also cultural definitions of “good” motherhood, which may define when women are “ready”.

Constructivism and the Inescapability of Moral Choices: A Response to Raskin and Debany

In their article on ethics, Raskin and Debany (this issue) raise a number of important issues that merit discussion and have implications for a constructivist stance on ethics, an issue that has dogged constructivist and social constructionist theory and has, in the past, been the focus of a good deal of debate. In my response to their article, I focus on two issues before going on to consider what these imply for a constructivist ethics. The first is the status of “reality”; drawing on the work of French philosophers, discursive psychology, and symbolic interactionism, I argue that the constructivist conception of reality has been widely misunderstood and will outline what I regard as a defensible construction of reality. The second issue concerns the relationship between the individual and the social world; drawing again on earlier work in microsociology, I argue that the “constructed” individual must be understood as emerging from the social realm rather than preexisting it, and I argue for personal construct psychology as a candidate for filling the subjectivity “gap” in social constructionism. Finally, I use these conceptualizations of reality and the person to argue for an ethical stance of “radical doubt” for constructivism.

III. Sex and Censorship: The Case of Buffy the Vampire Slayer

In this article, I will discuss the impact that television fiction may have upon our understanding of women’s sexuality and sexual oppression. Using the cult television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BtVS) (Whedon, 1997–2003) as a case study, I argue that some censorship deprives viewers of the opportunity to reflect upon and debate sexual mores. Public concern over the effects of television on young people has led to much empirical investigation, principally regarding television violence and, to a lesser extent, sexual content. There is no evidence to suggest that sexual material directly influences young people’s sexual attitudes or behaviour (Donnerstein and Smith, 2001; Malamuth and Impett, 2001); furthermore, research has been criticized for using ‘simple exposure’ to sexual scenes (Bauserman,1998) as measures; the relationship between television viewing and behaviour is likely to be complex, mediated through historical, cultural and social contexts. Young viewers ‘read’ sexual scenes through the lens of their own prior experiences and developing sexual identities and are capable of interpreting moral messages underlying scenes of a sexual nature; their views are often influenced by broader moral values such as trust and mutual respect (Brown, 2000; Levine, 2002; Bragg and Buckingham, 2003). Indeed, it has been argued that the overarching moral messages contained in television fiction are more important than specific content. Selnow (1990) analysed a range of prime-time television programmes and concluded that although they contained scenes of sex and violence, they also conveyed many positive values; people view the whole programme, not just the controversial scenes. Arguably all but the youngest of viewers understand the values being conveyed.

“Bunches of Grapes and Bananas”: Unconstruing the Human Body in Life Drawing

The creativity of human beings may be said to be at the heart of personal construct theory (PCT); the capacity for people to create and recreate their own lived world is the theorys bedrock. Nevertheless, it may be argued that PCT currently offers only a partial understanding of artistic creativity. In this article, the creative activity of life drawing is examined from a PCT perspective. In particular, the creativity cycle—involving both loosening and tightening—is applied to this activity. While loosening may be regarded as necessary, or at least desirable, for the creation of artistic artifacts, it is argued that tightening is held in abeyance. In light of this analysis, it is suggested that “unconstruing” may be a more appropriate concept for understanding this creative activity.

‘You shut up and go along with it’: an interpretative phenomenological study of former professional footballers’ experiences of addiction

Abstract Research evidence suggests that professional players across a variety of sports may be at greater risk of developing addictions and other mental illnesses than the general population, both during and post-career. In this paper, we report findings from a larger project on the experiences of career transition in UK professional footballers that provide some insight into this. Using an Interpretative Phenomenological approach, four ex-professional footballers who were attending the Sporting Chance Clinic for help with problems concerning alcohol and gambling were interviewed in depth about their experiences. Focusing on issues the players perceived to be relevant to their addictions, the data were analysed thematically, drawing on Van Manen’s phenomenological method, and individual case histories were also produced. The analysis suggested that club culture was key to understanding the players’ difficulties; a harsh, unsupportive psychological environment combined with expectations of manliness resulted in a culture of silence in the face of personal difficulties. Relationships within the culture of pro-football were fraught with anxiety and distrust, leaving the players feeling unable and unwilling to disclose their problems and feeling used and unvalued by their managers. The lack of supportive relationships in their clubs also resulted in loneliness and social withdrawal for the participants. We conclude with a number of recommendations for the governing bodies in professional football, clubs and individual players.

Combining Forms of Discourse Analysis: A Critical Discursive Psychological Approach to the Study of ‘Older’ Motherhood

This case explores the application of a combined approach to discourse analysis to the topic of ‘older motherhood’ and is based on a PhD project carried out by the first author (K.B.). In this case, we discuss the forms of discourse analysis that are generally applied within psychology, namely, Foucauldian discourse analysis and discursive psychology, and the strengths and limitations of these approaches. Furthermore, we discuss how these two approaches might be combined for the purpose of qualitative psychological research. We demonstrate how such a combined approach was developed and applied to the topic of ‘older motherhood’, and finally, we offer some guidance on how others might appropriate a similar approach in their research projects.