Speaking About Birth: Visible and Silenced Narratives in Online Discussions of Childbirth
In this article, I present an analysis of 1930 posts from 12 discussion threads from an online parenting forum, drawing upon a broader project on the mediation of childbirth. I present three themes in analysis: the multi-pronged functions of writing birth narratives, the discursive and perceived sil...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2017-10-01
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| Series: | Social Media + Society |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305117735753 |
| Summary: | In this article, I present an analysis of 1930 posts from 12 discussion threads from an online parenting forum, drawing upon a broader project on the mediation of childbirth. I present three themes in analysis: the multi-pronged functions of writing birth narratives, the discursive and perceived silencing of difficult stories, and the overt individualization and self-management evident in women’s accounts. I locate these as outcomes of the individualization of maternity in contemporary society and pendulum swings in cultural and policy-level conceptualizations of how births “should be.” I argue for greater attention to be paid to the mediation of parenting and networked maternal subjectivities. |
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| ISSN: | 2056-3051 |