'This Is Not What It’s Supposed to Be Like’: Avoiding Unwelcome Identifications Associated With Public Breastfeeding

Paola Taormina; Chris McVittie; Andy McKinlay

doi:10.29333/ajqr/9722

Paola Taormina ¹, Chris McVittie ² ^* , Andy McKinlay ³

More Detail

AM J QUALITATIVE RES, Volume 5, Issue 1, pp. 30-43

https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/9722

OPEN ACCESS 1987 Views 717 Downloads

Download Full Text (PDF)

Abstract

From a discursive perspective, identities fall to be understood not as inherent properties of individuals but rather as matters that are negotiated within and emerge from social interactions with others. Adopting this perspective, we examine how mothers who breastfeed their infants in public negotiate issues of identity. The activity of public breastfeeding presents problems for identity in that it is often seen by others, and sometimes by breastfeeding mothers themselves, as socially inappropriate in that by engaging in public breastfeeding women are partly exposing their bodies. The aim of this study was to investigate how mothers who breastfeed their infants in public seek to address identity problems that can arise from engaging in this activity. We examine discussions from a focus group conducted with five members of a drop-in support group for breastfeeding mothers. Discourse analysis of group discussions shows that group members provide descriptions of difficulties that they have experienced when breastfeeding in public, and partly exposing their bodies to co-present others. These descriptions, however, rely on detail that allows the participants or other group members to undermine them and to ward off the potentially negative identities with which they are associated. The descriptions, then, are designed to attend to social concerns surrounding public breastfeeding and thereby to allow participants to construct identities that are not associated with problems.

Keywords: Describing Actions, Discourse Analysis, Identities, Mothers, Public Breastfeeding.

References

Acker, M. (2009). Breast is best…but not everywhere: Ambivalent sexism and attitudes toward private and public breastfeeding. Sex Roles, 61, 476-490. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-009-9655-z
Antaki, C., & Wetherell, M. (1999). Show concessions. Discourse Studies, 1, 7-27. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445699001001002
Boyer, K. (2018). The emotional resonances of breastfeeding in public: The role of strangers in breastfeeding practice. Emotion, Space & Society, 26, 33-4. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.emospa.2016.09.002
British Psychological Society. (2014). Code of Human Research Ethics. The British Psychological Society.
Burns, E., Schmied, V., Fenwick, J., & Sheehan, A. (2012). Liquid gold from the milkbar: Constructions of breastmilk and breastfeeding women in the language and practices of midwives. Social Science and Medicine, 75, 1737–1745. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.07.035
Carathers, J. (2017). The breastfeeding problematic: Negotiating maternal sexuality in heterosexual partnerships. Women’s Studies International Forum, 65, 71-77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2017.10.002
Cripe, E. T. (2017). “You can’t bring your cat to work”: Challenges mothers face combining breastfeeding and working. Qualitative Research Reports in Communication, 18(1), 36-44. https://doi.org/10.1080/17459435.2017.1294615
Drew, P., & Holt, E. (1989). Complainable matters: The use of idiomatic expressions in making complaints. Social Problems, 35, 501-520. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/sp.1988.35.4.03a00060
Edwards, D. (2003). Analyzing racial discourse: The discursive psychology of mind-world relationships. In H. van den Berg, M. Wetherell, & H. Houtkoop-Steenstra (Eds.), Analyzing race talk: Multidisciplinary approaches to the interview (pp. 31-48). Cambridge University Press.
Edwards, D., & Potter, J. (1992). Discursive psychology. Sage.
Fenwick, J., Burns, E., Sheehan, A., & Schmied, V. (2013). ‘We only talk about breast feeding’: A discourse analysis of infant feeding messages in antenatal group‐based education. Midwifery, 29, 425–433. https://doi.org/doi:10.1016/j.midw.2012.02.006
Gammie, E., Hamilton, S., & Gilchrist, V. (2017). Focus group discussions. In Z. Hoque, I. D. Parker, M. A. Covaleski, & K. Haynes (Eds.), The Routledge Companion to Qualitative Accounting Research Methods (pp. 372-386). Routledge.
Garfinkel, H. (1967). Studies in ethnomethodology. Prentice Hall.
Hennink, M. M. (2014). Focus group discussions: Understanding qualitative research. Oxford University Press.
Jefferson, G. (2004). Glossary of transcript symbols with an introduction. In G. H. Lerner (Ed.), Conversation analysis: Studies from the first generation (pp. 13-31). John Benjamins.
Jefferson, G. (2015). Talking about troubles in conversation. Oxford University Press.
Johnston-Robledo, I., Wares, S., Fricker, J., & Pasek, L. (2007). Indecent exposure: Self-objectification and young women’s attitudes toward breastfeeding. Sex Roles, 56, 429-437. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-007-9194-4
Locke, A. (2009). ‘Natural versus taught’: Competing discourses in antenatal breastfeeding workshops. Journal of Health Psychology, 14(3) 435–44. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105309102200
Mahon-Daly, P., & Andrews, G. (2002). Liminality and breastfeeding: Women negotiating space and two bodies. Health & Place, 8, 61-76. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1353-8292(01)00026-0
McFadden, A., & Toole, G. (2006). Exploring women's views of breastfeeding: A focus group study within an area with high levels of socio-economic deprivation. Maternal & Child Nutrition, 2, 156-168. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1740-8709.2006.00054.x
McKinlay, A., & McVittie, C. (2008). Social psychology and discourse. Wiley-Blackwell.
McKinlay, A., & McVittie, C. (2011). Identities in context: Individuals and discourse in action. Wiley-Blackwell.
McMullen, L. M. (2021). Essentials of discursive psychology. American Psychological Association.
McVittie, C., McKinlay, A., & Munro, R. (2020) ‘A Golly was simply a toy. End of’: Inoculation, attention deflection, and attempted puzzle-resolution in contesting racism in online discussions. European Journal of Social Psychology, 50(3), 673-684. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2640
Pomerantz, A. M. (1986). Extreme case formulations: A new way of legitimating claims. Human Studies, 9, 219-230. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00148128
Potter, J. (1996). Representing reality: Discourse, rhetoric, and social construction. Sage.
Puchta, C., & Potter, J. (2004). Focus group practice. Sage.
Sacks, H. (1992). Lectures on conversation. Blackwell.
Scott, J., & Mostyn, T. (2003). Women's experiences of breastfeeding in a bottle-feeding culture. Journal of Human Lactation, 19, 270-277. https://doi.org/10.1177/0890334403255225
Shaw, R. L., Wallace, L. M., & Bansal, M. (2003). Is breast best? Perceptions of infant feeding. Community Practitioner, 76, 299-303.
Stearns, C. (1999). Breastfeeding and the good maternal body. Gender & Society, 13, 308-325. https://doi.org/10.1177/089124399013003003
Stokoe, E. (2010). ‘I’m not gonna hit a lady’: Conversation analysis, membership categorization and men’s denials of violence towards women. Discourse & Society, 21, 59-82. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926509345072
Stokoe, E., & Edwards, D. (2007). ‘Black this, Black that’: Racial insults and reported speech in neighbour complaints and policy interrogations. Discourse & Society, 18, 337-372. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926507075477
The Royal College of Midwives. (2018). Position statement: Infant feeding. The Royal College of Midwives.
Tracy, K., & Robles, J. S. (2013). Everyday talk: Building and reflecting identities. Guilford Press.
Widdicombe, S. (1998). Identity as an analysts’ and a participants’ resource. In C. Antaki & S. Widdicombe (Eds.), Identities in talk (pp. 191–206). Sage.
Wiggins, S. (2017). Discursive psychology: Theory, method, and applications. Sage.
Wilkinson, S. (1999). Focus groups: A feminist method. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 23, 221-244. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-6402.1999.tb00355.x

Citation

Taormina, P., McVittie, C., & McKinlay, A. (2021). 'This Is Not What It’s Supposed to Be Like’: Avoiding Unwelcome Identifications Associated With Public Breastfeeding. American Journal of Qualitative Research, 5(1), 30-43. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/9722

Taormina, P., McVittie, C., and McKinlay, A. (2021). 'This Is Not What It’s Supposed to Be Like’: Avoiding Unwelcome Identifications Associated With Public Breastfeeding. American Journal of Qualitative Research, 5(1), pp. 30-43. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/9722

Taormina P, McVittie C, McKinlay A. 'This Is Not What It’s Supposed to Be Like’: Avoiding Unwelcome Identifications Associated With Public Breastfeeding. AM J QUALITATIVE RES. 2021;5(1), 30-43. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/9722

Taormina, Paola, Chris McVittie, and Andy McKinlay. "'This Is Not What It’s Supposed to Be Like’: Avoiding Unwelcome Identifications Associated With Public Breastfeeding". American Journal of Qualitative Research 2021 5 no. 1 (2021): 30-43. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/9722

Taormina, Paola et al. "'This Is Not What It’s Supposed to Be Like’: Avoiding Unwelcome Identifications Associated With Public Breastfeeding". American Journal of Qualitative Research, vol. 5, no. 1, 2021, pp. 30-43. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/9722

Taormina P, McVittie C, McKinlay A. 'This Is Not What It’s Supposed to Be Like’: Avoiding Unwelcome Identifications Associated With Public Breastfeeding. AM J QUALITATIVE RES. 2021;5(1):30-43. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/9722