The present interpretive work explores the consumption experiences of pregnant women transitioning to mother roles, focusing specifically upon the consumption of maternity dress, which has not been previously considered within the context of liminal consumption. Of particular interest were if and how the consumption of maternity dress may shape the self during the liminal transition of pregnancy. Findings revealed that consumption of maternity dress during pregnancy both complicated and supported participants' embodied experiences as liminal, pregnant selves and their transition to motherhood. Three overarching themes were identified and reflect the ways in which participants' consumption practices were tightly bound with their identities, which, in turn, represented a repertoire of possible selves that often diverged from the participants' current identities. Specifically, the three emergent themes included: (1) maternity dress consumption representing disruption in the 'Woman I Am Most of the Time,' (2) maternity dress consumption to affirm one's new identity as 'Pregnant/Expectant Mother,' and (3) maternity dress consumption to maintain continuity in the 'Woman I Am Most of the Time.' Findings also underscored that consumption during liminality is complex, both inciting and relieving ambivalence during role transition.

Diffusion of innovations, Family-owned business, Information technology (IT), Technology acceptance model (TAM),

This interpretive study explored the marital dyad as a context for the negotiation of concerns relative to the postpartum body, and in particular, the reconfiguration of this body so as to more closely approximate the pre-pregnant body/self. The research was guided by symbolic interactionism and the work of Erving Goffman. Data were collected via in-depth interviews with 14 married couples expecting their first child. Analyses revealed that wives and husbands negotiated meanings relative to recapturing, redefining, and reclaiming wives’ bodies after childbirth in a way that suggested a repertoire of possible selves, including the Woman I/My Wife Used to Be (before pregnancy), the Woman I Fear I/My Wife Could Become (i.e., a woman who cannot get her old shape back), and the Women I/My Wife Hope(s) to Become (i.e., a woman who can get her old shape back) (cf. Guy & Banim, 2000). Within this general system of meanings, three overarching themes emerged: (a) aspirations for the postpartum body, (b) the navigation of concerns relative to the appearance of the postpartum body, and (c) reclamation projects planned and/or undertaken by wives. In varied ways, interactions within the marital dyad shaped the wives’ efforts to navigate their concerns about the postpartum body and to plan or undertake bodily reclamation projects. Generally speaking, husband-wife interactions were described by wives as a source of reassurance in the journey back to The Women They Used to Be. Findings provide support for interactionist proposition that the people come to understand the body through others’ eyes.

In contemporary Western society, individuals are encouraged to adopt a “duty to be well ideology” by assuming personal responsibility for health through engagement in self-care practices. We explored the duty to be well within the contexts of pregnancy, first-time parenthood, and marriage. Analyses were informed by Foucault’s work on surveillance. In-depth interviews were conducted during the 7th or 8th month of pregnancy with 14 married couples expecting their first child. The sample was recruited from two U.S. university towns. Participants conceptualized the duty to be well as the expectant mother’s unyielding bodily obligation to her unborn child and the notion that she should engage in bodily routines to shape fetal development. Both wives and husbands participated in the duty to be well, which included three dimensions: the need to feed, the need to take physical care/stay out of harm’s way, and the need to thwart maternal anxiety. However, findings indicated that efforts to safeguard unborn children were sometimes a slippery slope, representing an uneven path and/or inciting ambivalence. Further, participants experienced surveillance associated with the duty to be well as both caring and controlling, depending upon the context of the surveillance and the perceived meaning of the monitoring.

This interpretive analysis examines the dress-related meanings included within issues of Ms. magazine, a key feminist periodical, published between the magazine's inception in 1972 and 2002. Dress-related text is excerpted for analysis (n = 156 articles) and analyzed using constant comparison processes. Analyses reveal two overarching and somewhat disparate themes: (a) experiences of oppression through dress and (b) experiences of empowerment and self-realization through dress. Content related to the first overarching theme addresses the various ways in which women may feel oppressed by fashion discourses and narrow cultural norms of attractiveness. Content related to the second overarching theme addresses the ways in which women can feel empowered or gain pleasure through dress and body-related experiences. Findings are examined for change in meaning with the passage of time and are interpreted in the contexts of existing literature and theory as well as the broader feminist movement.