“Mombrain and Sticky DNA”: The Impacts of Neurobiological and Epigenetic Framings of Motherhood on Women's Subjectivities
The fields of epigenetics and neuroscience have come to occupy a significant place in individual and public life in biomedicalized societies. Social scientists have argued that the primacy and popularization of the “neuro” has begun to shape how patients and other lay people experience themselves an...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2021-04-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Sociology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2021.653160/full |
| _version_ | 1818416826557661184 |
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| author | Ingrid Olivia Norrmén-Smith Ana Gómez-Carrillo Suparna Choudhury Suparna Choudhury |
| author_facet | Ingrid Olivia Norrmén-Smith Ana Gómez-Carrillo Suparna Choudhury Suparna Choudhury |
| author_sort | Ingrid Olivia Norrmén-Smith |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The fields of epigenetics and neuroscience have come to occupy a significant place in individual and public life in biomedicalized societies. Social scientists have argued that the primacy and popularization of the “neuro” has begun to shape how patients and other lay people experience themselves and their lifeworlds in increasingly neurological and genetic terms. Pregnant women and new mothers have become an important new target for cutting edge neuroscientific and epigenetic research, with the Internet constituting a highly active space for engagement with knowledge translations. In this paper, we analyze the reception by women in North America of translations of nascent epigenetic and neuroscientific research. We conducted three focus groups with pregnant women and new mothers. The study was informed by a prior scoping investigation of online content. Our focus group findings record how engagement with translations of epigenetic and neuroscientific research impact women's perinatal experience, wellbeing, and self-construal. Three themes emerged in our analysis: (1) A kind of brain; (2) The looping effects of biomedical narratives; (3) Imprints of past experience and the management of the future. This data reveals how mothers engage with the neurobiological style-of-thought increasingly characteristic of public health and popular science messaging around pregnancy and motherhood. Through the molecularization of pregnancy and child development, a typical passage of life becomes saturated with “susceptibility,” “risk,” and the imperative to preemptively make “healthy' choices.” This, in turn, redefines and shapes the experience of what it is to be a “good,” “healthy,” or “responsible” mother/to-be. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-14T11:57:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-344404b3b20c4ae19b730ba158400c4d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2297-7775 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-14T11:57:03Z |
| publishDate | 2021-04-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Sociology |
| spelling | doaj.art-344404b3b20c4ae19b730ba158400c4d2022-12-21T23:02:05ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Sociology2297-77752021-04-01610.3389/fsoc.2021.653160653160“Mombrain and Sticky DNA”: The Impacts of Neurobiological and Epigenetic Framings of Motherhood on Women's SubjectivitiesIngrid Olivia Norrmén-Smith0Ana Gómez-Carrillo1Suparna Choudhury2Suparna Choudhury3Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montréal, QC, CanadaDivision of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montréal, QC, CanadaDivision of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montréal, QC, CanadaInstitute of Community and Family Psychiatry, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, Jewish General Hospital, Montréal, QC, CanadaThe fields of epigenetics and neuroscience have come to occupy a significant place in individual and public life in biomedicalized societies. Social scientists have argued that the primacy and popularization of the “neuro” has begun to shape how patients and other lay people experience themselves and their lifeworlds in increasingly neurological and genetic terms. Pregnant women and new mothers have become an important new target for cutting edge neuroscientific and epigenetic research, with the Internet constituting a highly active space for engagement with knowledge translations. In this paper, we analyze the reception by women in North America of translations of nascent epigenetic and neuroscientific research. We conducted three focus groups with pregnant women and new mothers. The study was informed by a prior scoping investigation of online content. Our focus group findings record how engagement with translations of epigenetic and neuroscientific research impact women's perinatal experience, wellbeing, and self-construal. Three themes emerged in our analysis: (1) A kind of brain; (2) The looping effects of biomedical narratives; (3) Imprints of past experience and the management of the future. This data reveals how mothers engage with the neurobiological style-of-thought increasingly characteristic of public health and popular science messaging around pregnancy and motherhood. Through the molecularization of pregnancy and child development, a typical passage of life becomes saturated with “susceptibility,” “risk,” and the imperative to preemptively make “healthy' choices.” This, in turn, redefines and shapes the experience of what it is to be a “good,” “healthy,” or “responsible” mother/to-be.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2021.653160/fullneuroscienceepigeneticsknowledge translationmediapregnancymotherhood |
| spellingShingle | Ingrid Olivia Norrmén-Smith Ana Gómez-Carrillo Suparna Choudhury Suparna Choudhury “Mombrain and Sticky DNA”: The Impacts of Neurobiological and Epigenetic Framings of Motherhood on Women's Subjectivities Frontiers in Sociology neuroscience epigenetics knowledge translation media pregnancy motherhood |
| title | “Mombrain and Sticky DNA”: The Impacts of Neurobiological and Epigenetic Framings of Motherhood on Women's Subjectivities |
| title_full | “Mombrain and Sticky DNA”: The Impacts of Neurobiological and Epigenetic Framings of Motherhood on Women's Subjectivities |
| title_fullStr | “Mombrain and Sticky DNA”: The Impacts of Neurobiological and Epigenetic Framings of Motherhood on Women's Subjectivities |
| title_full_unstemmed | “Mombrain and Sticky DNA”: The Impacts of Neurobiological and Epigenetic Framings of Motherhood on Women's Subjectivities |
| title_short | “Mombrain and Sticky DNA”: The Impacts of Neurobiological and Epigenetic Framings of Motherhood on Women's Subjectivities |
| title_sort | mombrain and sticky dna the impacts of neurobiological and epigenetic framings of motherhood on women s subjectivities |
| topic | neuroscience epigenetics knowledge translation media pregnancy motherhood |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2021.653160/full |
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