Abstract

LEMOS, Renata Feldman Scheinkman  and  KIND, Luciana. Women and motherhood: possible faces. Estud. pesqui. psicol. [online]. 2017, vol.17, n.3, pp. 840-859. ISSN 1808-4281.

This paper investigates the contemporary motherhood in a plural dimension permeated by all sorts of expectations, ambivalences, contradictions and requirements. The research was guided by an ontology of the present perspective. Transformations in the number of children, professional experience, technological advances and family arrangements are examples of what has made it possible for motherhood and fatherhood to be expressed in various modes of existence. This context of profound transformation occurs within the normative, discursive and traditional logic which also governs contemporary motherhood. Given this scenario, the present study asked women from different profiles how they see themselves and how they feel about the experience of being (or not being) mother. The methodological approach was based on a qualitative field research, carried out through semi-structured interviews with six women, five mothers, and one determined not to be. Data analysis had was carried on through thematic content analysis. This study made it possible to investigate the diversified ways through which women face contemporary motherhood and its various modes of existence, outlining dynamic subjectivation processes confronting the constraints, expectations and discourses that go along with being a mother.

Keywords : contemporary motherhood; women; subjectivity.

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