Pronatalism

Discourses and Counterdiscourses
Erscheinungsjahr 2025
ISBN: 978-1-80041-698-7
Verlag: Multilingual Matters

Buch, Englisch, 161 Seiten, Format (B × H): 153 mm x 216 mm, Gewicht: 356 g

This book addresses a topic that until recently had been underexplored: women who voluntarily forgo having and raising children. Grounded in a discourse approach, it examines reproductive decision-making in the context of pronatalist discourses, such as 'maternal instinct', 'biological clock' and 'having it all', that encourage procreation in some while discouraging it in others. To contextualize pronatalism sociohistorically, the book also examines the relationship between pro- and anti-natalist discourses that emerged during the 20th-century eugenics movement in the United States, especially its promotion of white middle-class women’s procreation while discouraging, or preventing, poor immigrant women and women of color from reproducing. Other topics include online communities devoted to childfreedom, 20th- and 21st-century women authors who wrote about their decision not to procreate, responses of academic women in the field of applied linguistics to questions about their childlessness, and a personal narrative of the author’s childlessness. The author calls for solidarity between mothers and 'nothers' (her term for childless women) to defy the policing of women’s bodies worldwide.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Benesch, Sarah

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Abtreibung, Geburtenkontrolle: Soziale & Ethische Themen
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein Feminismus, Feministische Theorie
• Sozialwissenschaften Pädagogik Schulen, Schulleitung Universitäten, Hochschulen
• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Semantik & Pragmatik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements

Series Editors' Preface

Chapter 1. Introduction

Chapter 2. Eugenics: Relationships between Pro- and Anti-Natalist Discourses

Chapter 3. Pronatalist Discourses and Counterdiscourses in Popular Culture: Biological Clock

Chapter 4. Pronatalist Discourses and Counterdiscourses in Popular Culture: Having it All

Chapter 5. Discourses of Nothering Online: Seeking Community or Celebrating a Lifestyle?

Chapter 6. Discourses of Notherhood: Writers Claim Their Time, Space, Energy, Money, and Reproductive Rights

Chapter 7. Academic Women and Notherhood

Chapter 8. My Notherhood: Discourses and Counterdiscourses

Chapter 9. Reproductive Solidarity

References

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Benesch, Sarah
Sarah Benesch is Professor Emerita of English, College of Staten Island, the City University of New York, USA. Over the course of her career, she has worked on critical English for academic purposes and on the relationship between emotions and power in English language teaching.

Sarah Benesch is Professor Emerita of English, College of Staten Island, the City University of New York, USA. Over the course of her career, she has written about critical English for academic purposes and the relationship between emotions and power in English language teaching.