This article draws on data from a study of the transition to motherhood to contribute to feminist theorizing of embodiment. Three bodily aspects of women's gendered sense of self are identified as undergoing possible change during this period—sensuality, shape, and space. The work of Arthur Frank is drawn on to theorize shifts in women's experience of these dimensions, and the author shows how the white, middle-class women studied could use such discourses around the body as resources in renegotiating their social (...) positioning. This empirical analysis demonstrates how physical changes may facilitate challenging the dominant body norms, although the work of Robert Connell indicates that social control may also be a consequence of such bodily conceptualizations. This article therefore uses its empirical analysis to contribute to theorizing the connections between bodily practices and gendered identity. (shrink)

This article examines the relationship between discourses of motherhood and discourses of employment for contemporary middle-class women. Drawing on data from a study of the transition to motherhood conducted in Bristol, UK, it is suggested that there are important continuities as well as con icts between the discursive construction of these two spheres. In consequence, a variety of relationships may be established between mothering and employment identities. The concept of `inter-spatiality' is suggested to conceptualize how the women negotiated the relationship (...) between the two. The findings suggest both that women do not necessarily experience con ict between these two sources of identity, and that they may have a degree of agency in negotiating the relationship between these interlocking parts of their lives. (shrink)

Whilst previous research into mothering on social media has focused on representations of intensive mothering ideology, this paper argues that social media are fundamentally changing mothering discourses for some users. The paper explores ‘good’ mothering in digital communities by considering: the legitimised expression of ambivalent emotions in digital mothering communities; the shifting relationship between private and public, with implications for new forms of maternal intimacy; the forms of surveillance engaged in, and resisted, online; and the opportunities for women to play (...) with alternative identities. Through analysis of posts on the British mothering internet forum ‘Mumsnet’, the paper suggests the concept of virtual mothering to encapsulate the emerging ways in which mothering is performed through online spaces. Four aspects of virtual mothering discourse are explored – perfection, privacy, politics and play. (shrink)