Biopolitics of Non-Motherhood: Childfree Women on a Persian-Language Digital Platform for Mothers

Abstract

In Iran, motherhood continues to be considered an important and essential part of women's social life. However, nonmotherhood is gaining momentum as Iranian women increasingly choose to be childfree. This study explores women's perceptions of motherhood using the content of a Persian-language discussion and mini-blogging forum called Ninisite. Ninisite is one of the largest interactive digital spaces dedicated to topics such as family, motherhood, fertility, infertility, pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare. This study uses a combination of cyber-ethnography and critical discourse analysis to investigate users' attitudes and perceptions on non-motherhood and childfreeness on Ninisite. The research shows the participatory and solidarizing climate on Ninisite's interactive blogosphere to provide informative, spiritual, and affective support, not only to mothers but also to non-mothers in a context where childfreeness is stigmatized as well as socially and politically scrutinized.

Pushing Intersectionality, Hybridity, and (Inter)Disciplinary Research on Digitality to Its Limits

“…I am not only looking at hybridity and in-between identifications that defy everyday binarizations of gender and sexuality, but also spatial settings blurring the lines between online and offline environments, anonymity, and identification. And I specifically look at how (queer) Iranians deal h Also see e.g., Dearden, 2016. with these in-between locations (see, e.g., Rahbari, 2021, Rahbari, 2020a, Rahbari 2020b, Rahbari, 2019a and how the latter utilize spaces for explicit and implicit forms of activism (Horton & Kraftl, 2009).…”