‘Bad’ mums tell the ‘untellable’: Narrative practices and agency in online stories about postnatal depression on Mumsnet

Jaworska, Sylvia

doi:10.1016/j.dcm.2017.11.002

Cited by 46 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Studies of gender and parenthood online from across the social sciences have suggested that the internet has the capacity to support and empower women from a range of backgrounds: by offering spaces in which they can be themselves and express their views honestly (Moravec, 2011), find solace and support in a safe environment (Chan, 2008;Mulcahy, Parry and Glover, 2015) and perform multiple identities (Lakämper, 2015;Petersen, 2015). Further, emerging linguistic research in this area has suggested that online parenting forums such as Mumsnet Talk, and other digital contexts, may support the negotiation and challenge of dominant forms of knowledge around femininity, pregnancy and motherhood (Jaworska, 2017;Mackenzie, 2017a). These themes are consistent with the claims of internet researchers such as Benwell and Stokoe (2006), Danet et al (1997) and Markham (2004), who have suggested that online affordances such as the potential for anonymity can liberate internet users, to some extent, from social constraints.…”

Section: Parenthood Gender and Language In Digital Interactionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Good mums don’t, apparently, wear make-up’

Mackenzie

2018

Gender and Language

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This article explores the discourses and related subject positions that are negotiated by contributors to the discussion forum of a popular British parenting website, Mumsnet Talk. Drawing on analysis of a single thread posted to this forum, I explore the ways in which participants, who present themselves as women and as parents, negotiate dominant discourses of gendered parenthood that position them as 'mothers', and often, by association, as the primary caregiver, who is defined and positioned exclusively in relation to children. I also show that contributors use a range of linguistic and digital resources to challenge such discourses, and that their resistance can be facilitated, at times, by the affordances of the forum itself. The potential to connect with a large community of Mumsnet users, for example, is identified as a powerful resource at their disposal. Overall, I find that Mumsnet Talk is a fruitful site for negotiating, resisting and subverting socio-cultural norms and expectations, but that it remains difficult here, as elsewhere, for women to escape dominant discourses that work to position them in restrictive gendered subject positions.

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Section: Parenthood Gender and Language In Digital Interactionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Good mums don’t, apparently, wear make-up’

Mackenzie

2018

Gender and Language

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“…Totally normal either way.I’m right there with you! I get why people do it and to each their own, but you have NO obligation to announce anything to hundreds of random had-class-once-together-freshman-year ‘friends’.The next section examines potential transformations and redefinitions of the OPs’ meanings and perspectives thanks to these online interactions (as in Jaworska, 2018).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When sharing about their pregnancy, expectant mothers may be mindful of taking part in a broader surveillance process, adjusting their performance in line with the platforms they are using and their interpretation of the potential audience. Research on parenting forums, for example, found that anonymity enables mothers to tell the ‘untellable’ about their experiences and to highlight particularly challenging, negative, and unsettling dimensions of giving birth that may not be aligned with socially acceptable discourses (Jaworska, 2018). With regard to visually oriented platforms such as Instagram, Tiidenberg and Baym (2017) found that many expectant mothers adhere to mainstream discourses on the ‘good pregnant woman’; their predominant use of self-images on these sites seems to reinforce authoritative knowledge on how to do pregnancy right.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such conversational loci offer a potential space for alternative narratives through which mothers may question and disagree with commonsense discourses about birth (Das, 2017). According to Jaworska (2018), this exchange of experiences can lead to the transformation and redefinition of posters’ and readers’ perspectives, given that mothers who use these platforms display greater agency and confidence in interpreting and dealing with the issues that originally led them to ask for advice.…”

Section: The Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

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To share or not to share? That is the (social media) dilemma. Expectant mothers questioning and making sense of performing pregnancy on social media

Cino

Formenti

2021

Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Med

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Posting about one’s pregnancy on social media has become a common practice for many expectant mothers in the global North. However, social media sharing implies transcending the conventional time and space boundaries of interpersonal communication. As such, women may feel ill at ease when deciding whether and how to narrate their journey online. This article examines mothers’ pre-birth social media dilemmas via a thematic analysis of 1237 posts from 26 threads on a parenting forum in which expectant mothers discussed their doubts and fears about sharing their pregnancy on social media. The dilemmatic dimension of social media sharing challenges the simplistic idea that sharenting is a practice most women naively adhere to without question. Indeed, the present research shows that online posters face dilemmas about performing their pregnancies on social media and collectively learn to make sense of and question a culture of surveillance, while reclaiming their self-representational agency in the process.

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“…The lines of appropriate intimacies, relationships and feelings for mothers are drawn and intensified by postfeminist neoliberal capitalism, and mediated affectively in digital intimate publics (Gill & Kanai, 2018). In her study of how mothers discuss postnatal depression, Jaworska (2018) concludes that anonymous online discussion forums are important for women to revoke taboos and exercise agency by reworking the hegemonic discourse on motherhood (see also Evans, Donelle, & Hume-Loveland, 2012). However, Pedersen and Lupton (2018) argue that the expression and understanding of negative emotions is only done within certain limits: practices or feelings that fall outside these limits may be considered unacceptable or pathological.…”

Section: Motherhood Displayed In Intimate Publics: Representations or Interventions?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“F*** this shit” - Negotiating the Boundaries of Public Expression of Mother’s Negative Feelings

Mustosmäki

Sihto

2021

NORA - Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research

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In 2017, Finnish celebrity Sini Ariell published a blog post titled "F*** this shit" in which she revealed her difficult feelings as a mother of a newborn baby. Attracting attention from Finnish media, the post went viral. Through the empirical analysis of affective reactions to the post on an anonymous online discussion board, we explore how the limits of the public expression of negative maternal feelings are negotiated and maintained, but also challenged. Our results highlight the normative, even punitive dynamics of the digital intimate public, as commenters on the discussion board often argued that struggles and unhappiness during motherhood should not be made public but dealt with in private. However, ambivalences and supportive comments suggested the possibility to challenge norms surrounding motherhood and widen the discussion of difficulties and inequalities in motherhood and family life. Based on our analysis, we argue that affective articulations of anger, anxiety and exhaustion may challenge the digital intimate public's "infrastructure of happiness", and they thus have political potential to disrupt the ideals of good motherhood and address the affective struggles that mothering often entails.

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‘Bad’ mums tell the ‘untellable’: Narrative practices and agency in online stories about postnatal depression on Mumsnet

Cited by 46 publications

References 41 publications

‘Good mums don’t, apparently, wear make-up’

‘Good mums don’t, apparently, wear make-up’

To share or not to share? That is the (social media) dilemma. Expectant mothers questioning and making sense of performing pregnancy on social media

“F*** this shit” - Negotiating the Boundaries of Public Expression of Mother’s Negative Feelings

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