Journal article
"Giving guilt the flick"?: An investigation of mothers' talk about guilt in relation to infant feeding
Psychology of Women Quarterly, Vol.37(1), pp.97-112
2013
Abstract
Manuals offering advice to new parents on the topic of infant feeding have recently begun to attend to the possible implications of pro-breast-feeding discourses for mothers’ subjective experiences, particularly with respect to guilt. In this article, we present a discursive analysis of focus groups with 35 Australian mothers in which we examine how mothers discuss their infant-feeding practices and their related subjective experiences. We focus on how the mothers draw upon notions of “guilt,” “choice,” and “emotional self-control” to attend to the possibility of moral judgment over their infant-feeding practices. We highlight a construction of choice that dramatically restricts permissible reasons for not breast-feeding one’s infant and a pervasive view that guilt is a natural and appropriate response for “good” mothers who do not breast-feed. We argue that the incorporation of advice to mothers that they should “not feel guilty” is unrealistic in a context in which breast-feeding is so heavily advocated and that, rather than providing relief or comfort, this advice can create an additional burden for mothers who do not breast-feed. Finally, we reflect upon the implications of our findings in relation to the provision of public health information to women making choices around how to feed their infants.
Details
- Title
- "Giving guilt the flick"?: An investigation of mothers' talk about guilt in relation to infant feeding
- Authors/Creators
- K. Williams (Author/Creator)N. Donaghue (Author/Creator)T. Kurz (Author/Creator)
- Publication Details
- Psychology of Women Quarterly, Vol.37(1), pp.97-112
- Publisher
- Sage
- Identifiers
- 991005545552707891
- Copyright
- The authors
- Murdoch Affiliation
- School of Psychology
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publisher URL
- http://pwq.sagepub.com/
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Citation topics
- 1 Clinical & Life Sciences
- 1.72 Obstetrics & Gynecology
- 1.72.891 Breastfeeding
- Web Of Science research areas
- Psychology, Multidisciplinary
- Women's Studies
- ESI research areas
- Psychiatry/Psychology