Pronatalism: Discourses and Counterdiscourses
Jul 2025 · Critical Language and Literacy Studies Book 33 · Channel View Publications
Ebook
160
Pages
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infoThis book will become available on July 15, 2025. You will not be charged until it is released.
About this ebook
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.
About the author
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.
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