Motherhood as a Gendered Entitlement

Intentionality, “Othering,” and Homosociality in the Online Infertility Community

Bibliographic Data

ID12926337
AuthorsKrista Whitehead (Mount Royal University, corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume53
Issue1
Pages94-122
Publication date2016-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCanadian Review of Sociology/Revue canadienne de sociologie (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1755-6171 • E-ISSN: 1755-618X
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/cars.12093
PMID26890448
OpenAlexW2278500412
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited32

Motherhood is one of the most enduring rites of passage to adult femininity for women. However, not all women have access to motherhood. In this paper, I explore the online infertility community wherein women blog to process their exclusion, expressing incredulity about the prospect of never having a biological child of their own. Women understand their infertility as an injustice, leading them to lay claim to motherhood. I argue that how women lay claim to motherhood changes our understanding of motherhood as a gendered norm. Motherhood is more than a pursuit of a gender identity; it is also a gendered entitlement. This research pushes analytic conceptualizations of motherhood forward, while also empirically enriching our knowledge about women's homosociality

Egalitarianism · Entitlement (fair division · Epistemology · Femininity · Injustice · Intentionality · Norm (philosophy · Political science · Sociology · Gender Studies · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy · Psychology · Reproductive Health and Technologies · Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology · Social Psychology

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