Abortion embedded and embodied in social relations: Challenges for feminist psychology

Marecek, Jeanne; Macleod, Catriona; Hoggart, Lesley

doi:10.1177/0959353517704877

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Evidence drawn from historical and sociological research shows that the discourse on femininity, and more specifically on motherhood, is shaped by questions of social control, including birth policies, mortality, sexual control of women, economic organization of the state, etc. (Marecek, Macleod, & Hoggart, 2017; Taylor & Wallace, 2012). Motherhood is still subjected to the controlling gaze of society––a society that has adopted clear characterizations of the “good mother” (May, 2008).…”

Section: Understanding Shame In the Context Of Maternal Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Between the eye and the gaze: Maternal shame in the novel We Need to Talk about Kevin

Slobodin

2018

Feminism & Psychology

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This paper seeks to understand the social power of maternal shame, using a framework that integrates feminist criticism of contemporary motherhood ideologies with philosophical theories that discuss shame in the broader context of visual perception. By using Lionel Shriver’s (2005) novel We Need to Talk about Kevin, the paper illustrates how shame operates in the interplay between the socio-cultural, gendered ideals of motherhood and mothers’ representations of these ideals. Specifically, the paper suggests that today’s mothers operate under a social gaze that expects them to meet the cultural and moral standards of “good” motherhood. This internalized societal judging gaze and the perception of failing to meet these standards are often the source of maternal shame. In line with philosophical accounts which focus on the primacy of vision in shame, I argue that empathy (“seeing with the eyes of the other”) is the most powerful antidote to shame. While shame is induced by a judging gaze, empathy develops through connected gazes, each acknowledging the other’s subjectivity. Locating shame within a socio-cultural context can provide invaluable insights for psychological research and practice that pay critical attention to positionality, reflexivity, and the power relationships inherent in contemporary motherhood.

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Section: Understanding Shame In the Context Of Maternal Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Between the eye and the gaze: Maternal shame in the novel We Need to Talk about Kevin

Slobodin

2018

Feminism & Psychology

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“…The importance of viewing abortion in context has recently been highlighted 1 2. In this article, we investigate, using a lens of the politics of location and representation, the context of knowledge production about abortion within psychology journals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychological knowledge production about abortion: the politics of location and representation

Macleod

Mavuso

Chiweshe

et al. 2019

BMJ Sex Reprod Health

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BackgroundDespite considerable psychology research being conducted on abortion, there has been no study of the history of psychological knowledge production on the topic. The aim of our research was to analyse journal articles published in English language psychology journals using a politics of location and of representation analytical lens.Study designA systematic search for articles published on abortion in psychology journals from 1960 to 2015 was conducted. A mixed-method approach (content analysis and narrative review) was used to analyse the dataset. Articles were coded according to: decade of publication, region, types of research conducted, and main issues focused on. A narrative review of the dominant issue researched – psychological consequences – in two decades (the 1970s and 2000s) was conducted.ResultsKnowledge production began in the 1970s in most regions featured in the dataset and in the 1990s in South Africa. Research is dominated by quantitative studies conducted in North America and Europe concerning the demarcation of psychological consequences of abortion performed under safe conditions. In the 1970s, abortion was viewed as leading to benign psychological consequences, but by the 2000s traumatology talk was firmly entrenched. Only one article, emanating from South Africa, addressed the question of unsafe abortion.ConclusionsKnowledge production in psychology needs to move beyond a narrow focus on the psychological consequences of abortion and attitudes to abortion. Nuanced, contextualised research of the psychology of both safe and unsafe abortion is necessary.

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Transgressing biomedical and legal boundaries: The “enticing and hazardous” challenges and promises of a Self-Managed Abortion multiverse

Nandagiri

Pizzarossa

2023

Women's Studies International Forum

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Abortion embedded and embodied in social relations: Challenges for feminist psychology

Cited by 5 publications

References 29 publications

Between the eye and the gaze: Maternal shame in the novel We Need to Talk about Kevin

Between the eye and the gaze: Maternal shame in the novel We Need to Talk about Kevin

Psychological knowledge production about abortion: the politics of location and representation

Transgressing biomedical and legal boundaries: The “enticing and hazardous” challenges and promises of a Self-Managed Abortion multiverse

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