Pregnant with possibility: The importance of visual data in (re)presenting queer women’s experiences of reproduction

Abstract

In this article, I discuss a queer method for uniting visual sociology, digital sociology, and constructivist grounded theory to conduct innovative research into how lesbian couples experience the transition to first-time parenthood, based on my longitudinal doctoral research in sociology. I first attend to the complex and unexpected unfolding of the research design, which evolved with the needs of the population to move from adapted photovoice interviews to the use of textual-visual online pregnancy journal data in a process emblematic of queer methodology. I then consider the contributions that visual data can make to the study of reproduction, especially where marginalized populations are concerned, by using my data to demonstrate how visuals create what is possible, rework oppressive versions of time, and challenge controlling images imposed on reproducing bodies. I argue here not just for the significance of images but for the significance of taking seriously the products and processes that communities find meaningful, and for evolving our research methods and methodologies to centralize marginalized ways of existing, knowing, and archiving experiences of reproduction and family life.

Visual methods in family and sexuality research: Picturing the everyday, the imaginary, and the void

“…It raises important questions about the extent to which visual methods can serve as an alternative way of seeing for marginalised participants to represent themselves within research and in the social world. While previous research, primarily conducted in democratic Western societies, has highlighted the potential of visual methods to generate social changes (Holland, 2019), it remains unknown as to whether and how research using visual methods in more restrictive contexts, such as China, can empower participants and bring about changes at individual, community, and/or societal levels. Also, previous Western research using visual methods to study sexuality and intimacy has found that the ways in which participants choose to create visual materials may still replicate the broader cultural knowledge and existing images already associated with established norms and values.…”

“…The photo-elicitation interview has also been increasingly used as a method. It involves using one or more images in an interview and inviting the participant to discuss these image(s) in relation to personal or sensitive topics, such as those related to sexuality and family (Del Busso and Reavey, 2013; Holland, 2019).…”

“…It is important to note that qualitative methods require socio-cultural adaptation (Mark and Boulton, 2017; Teti and Van Wyk, 2020). For instance, focussing on lesbian couples’ experiences of becoming parents in the USA, Holland (2019: 6) described how visual methods used in the study departed from the traditional photovoice method, which, in its original design, involves a series of photographic exercises that are supposed to be completed individually and then discussed in small groups (Wang and Redwood-Jones, 2001). Instead of carrying out the study in a group setting, Holland (2019) conducted couple-centred interviews, where participants shared the photos they took, in order to focus on how lesbians, as couples, experienced their transition to parenthood.…”

“…For instance, focussing on lesbian couples’ experiences of becoming parents in the USA, Holland (2019: 6) described how visual methods used in the study departed from the traditional photovoice method, which, in its original design, involves a series of photographic exercises that are supposed to be completed individually and then discussed in small groups (Wang and Redwood-Jones, 2001). Instead of carrying out the study in a group setting, Holland (2019) conducted couple-centred interviews, where participants shared the photos they took, in order to focus on how lesbians, as couples, experienced their transition to parenthood. More importantly, Holland (2019: 2) analysed online photo archives created by lesbian mothers in order to ‘centralise and advocate for’ the visual tools that marginalised people had created for themselves to display alternative representations of motherhood.…”

Pregnant under quarantine: Women's agency and access to medical care under Wuhan's COVID-19 lockdown

“…When pregnant women do adopt a “risk management” perspective that prioritizes medical authority, this orientation is often portrayed as a form of subjection (literally, adopting the required subjectivity) to governmental discourses associated with health, pregnancy, and motherhood ( Cao, 2014 ; Li, 2011 ; Song et al, 2012 ). There is ample research that describes how the Internet and social media have become important tools through which pregnant women gather information, receive advice, and assert agency (Drentea & Moren-Cross, 2005; Gui et al, 2017 ; Holland, 2019 ), though often as a counterweight to the authority of medical professionals ( Cohen & Raymond, 2011 ).…”