‘Good mums don’t, apparently, wear make-up’
negotiating discourses of gendered parenthood in Mumsnet Talk
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.31062Keywords:
Mumsnet, motherhood, discourses, subjectivity, online communityAbstract
This article explores the discourses and related subject positions that are negotiated by contributors to the discussion forum of a popular British parenting website, Mumsnet Talk. Drawing on analysis of a single thread posted to this forum, I explore the ways in which participants, who present themselves as women and as parents, negotiate dominant discourses of gendered parenthood that position them as ‘mothers’, and often, by association, as the primary caregiver, who is defined and positioned exclusively in relation to children. I also show that contributors use a range of linguistic and digital resources to challenge such discourses, and that their resistance can be facilitated, at times, by the affordances of the forum itself. The potential to connect with a large community of Mumsnet users, for example, is identified as a powerful resource at their disposal. Overall, I find that Mumsnet Talk is a fruitful site for negotiating, resisting and subverting socio-cultural norms and expectations, but that it remains difficult here, as elsewhere, for women to escape dominant discourses that work to position them in restrictive gendered subject positions.
References
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Milani, T. M. (2013) Are ‘queers’ really ‘queer’? Language, identity and same-sex desire in a South African online community. Discourse and Society 24(5): 615–33. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926513486168
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Miller, T. (2011) Falling back into gender? Men’s narratives and practices around first-time fatherhood. Sociology 45(6): 1094–1109. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038511419180
Moravec, M. (2011) Expectant motherhood: how online communities shape pregnancy. In M. Moravec (ed.) Motherhood Online 2–22. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
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Petersen, E. J. (2015) Mommy bloggers as rebels and community builders: a generic description. Journal of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement 6(1): 9–30.
Reisigl, M. and Wodak, R. (2009) The discourse-historical approach (DHA). In Wodak and Meyer (2009): 87–121.
Skeggs, B. (1997) Formations of Class and Gender: Becoming Respectable. London: Sage Publications.
Sunderland, J. (2000) Baby entertainer, bumbling assistant and line manager: discourses of fatherhood in parentcraft texts. Discourse and Society 11(2): 249–74. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926500011002006
Sunderland, J. (2004) Gendered Discourses. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230505582
Van Leeuwen, T. (2009) Discourse as the recontextualization of social practice: a guide. In Wodak and Meyer (2009): 144–61.
Wall, G. (2013) ‘Putting family first’: shifting discourses of motherhood and childhood in representations of mothers’ employment and child care. Women’s Studies International Forum 40: 162–71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2013.07.006
Weedon, C. (1997) Feminist Practice and Poststructuralist Theory (2nd edition). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
Wodak, R. and Meyer, M. (eds) (2009) Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis (2nd edition). London: Sage Publications.
Worthington, N. (2005) Women’s work on the world wide web: how a new medium represents an old problem. Popular Communication 3(1): 43–60. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15405710pc0301_3
Baxter, J. (2003) Positioning Gender in Discourse: A Feminist Methodology. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230501263
Baxter, J. (2014) Double-Voicing at Work: Power, Gender and Linguistic Expertise. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137348531
Benwell, B. and Stokoe, E. (2006) Discourse and Identity. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Boon, S. and Pentney, B. (2015) Virtual lactivism: breastfeeding selfies and the performance of motherhood. International Journal of Communication 9: 1759–74.
Chan, A. H.-N. (2008) ‘Life in Happy Land’: using virtual space and doing motherhood in Hong Kong. Gender, Place and Culture 15(2): 169–88. https://doi.org/10.1080/09663690701863281
Charmaz, K. (2014) Constructing Grounded Theory (2nd edition). London: Sage Publications.
Corbin, J. and Strauss, A. (2008) Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory (3rd edition). London: Sage Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452230153
Danet, B., Ruedenberg-Wright, L. and Rosenbaum-Tamari, Y. (1997) ‘Hmmm … where’s that smoke coming from?’ Writing, play and performance on Internet Relay Chat. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 2(4): JCMC246.
Davies, B. and Harré, R. (1990) Positioning: the discursive production of selves. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 20(1): 43–6. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5914.1990.tb00174.x
Ellece, S. E. (2012) The ‘placenta’ of the nation: motherhood discourses in Tswana marriage ceremonies. Gender and Language 6(1): 79–104. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.v6i1.79
Fairclough, N. (1992) Discourse and Social Change. Cambridge, MA: Polity Press.
Foucault, M. (1972) The Archaeology of Knowledge. London: Routledge Classics.
Foucault, M. (1978) The History of Sexuality Volume 1: An Introduction (ed. R. Hurley). London: Penguin.
Gill, R. (1995) Relativism, reflexivity and politics: interrogating discourse analysis from a feminist perspective. In S. Wilkinson and C. Kitzinger (eds) Feminism and Discourse: Psychological Perspectives 165–86. London: Sage Publications.
Gillies, V. (2007) Marginalised Mothers: Exploring Working Class Experiences of Parenting. Abingdon: Routledge.
Glaser, B. G. and Strauss, A. L. (1967) The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. Chicago, IL: Aldine.
Hall, M., Gough, B., Seymour-Smith, S. and Hansen, S. (2012) On-line constructions of metrosexuality and masculinities: a membership categorization analysis. Gender and Language 6(2): 379–404. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.v6i2.379
Jäger, S. and Maier, F. (2009) Theoretical and methodological aspects of Foucauldian critical discourse analysis and dispositive analysis. In Wodak and Meyer (2009): 34–61.
Jaworska, S. (2017) ‘Bad’ mums and the ‘untellable’: narrative practices and agency in online stories about postnatal depression on Mumsnet. Discourse, Context and Media. Retrieved from www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221169581730137X.
Lakämper, J. (2015) The pains of sharing pleasure: imag(in)ing motherhood on Pinterest. Journal of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement 6(1): 81–91.
Lawler, S. (2000) Mothering the Self: Mothers, Daughters, Subjects. London: Routledge.
Mackenzie, J. (2017a) ‘Can we have a child exchange?’ Constructing and subverting the ‘good mother’ through play in Mumsnet Talk. Discourse and Society 28(3): 296–312. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926516687417
Mackenzie, J. (2017b) Identifying informational norms in Mumsnet Talk: a reflexive-linguistic approach to internet research ethics. Applied Linguistics Review 8(2–3): 293–314. https://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2016-1042
Madge, C. and O’Connor, H. (2006) Parenting gone wired: empowerment of new mothers on the Internet? Social and Cultural Geography 7(2): 199–220. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649360600600528
Markham, A. (2004) Internet communication as a tool for qualitative research. In D. Silverman (ed.) Qualitative Research: Theory, Method and Practice 95–124. London: Sage Publications.
Milani, T. M. (2013) Are ‘queers’ really ‘queer’? Language, identity and same-sex desire in a South African online community. Discourse and Society 24(5): 615–33. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926513486168
Miller, T. (2007) ‘Is this what motherhood is all about?’: Weaving experiences and discourse through transition to first-time motherhood. Gender and Society 21(3): 337–58. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243207300561
Miller, T. (2011) Falling back into gender? Men’s narratives and practices around first-time fatherhood. Sociology 45(6): 1094–1109. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038511419180
Moravec, M. (2011) Expectant motherhood: how online communities shape pregnancy. In M. Moravec (ed.) Motherhood Online 2–22. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Mulcahy, C. C., Parry, D. C. and Glover, T. D. (2015) From mothering without a net to mothering on the net: the impact of an online social networking site on experiences of postpartum depression. Journal of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement 6(1): 92–106.
Pedersen, S. and Smithson, J. (2013) Mothers with attitude: how the Mumsnet parenting forum offers space for new forms of femininity to emerge online. Women’s Studies International Forum 38: 97–106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2013.03.004
Petersen, E. J. (2015) Mommy bloggers as rebels and community builders: a generic description. Journal of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement 6(1): 9–30.
Reisigl, M. and Wodak, R. (2009) The discourse-historical approach (DHA). In Wodak and Meyer (2009): 87–121.
Skeggs, B. (1997) Formations of Class and Gender: Becoming Respectable. London: Sage Publications.
Sunderland, J. (2000) Baby entertainer, bumbling assistant and line manager: discourses of fatherhood in parentcraft texts. Discourse and Society 11(2): 249–74. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926500011002006
Sunderland, J. (2004) Gendered Discourses. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230505582
Van Leeuwen, T. (2009) Discourse as the recontextualization of social practice: a guide. In Wodak and Meyer (2009): 144–61.
Wall, G. (2013) ‘Putting family first’: shifting discourses of motherhood and childhood in representations of mothers’ employment and child care. Women’s Studies International Forum 40: 162–71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2013.07.006
Weedon, C. (1997) Feminist Practice and Poststructuralist Theory (2nd edition). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
Wodak, R. and Meyer, M. (eds) (2009) Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis (2nd edition). London: Sage Publications.
Worthington, N. (2005) Women’s work on the world wide web: how a new medium represents an old problem. Popular Communication 3(1): 43–60. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15405710pc0301_3
Published
2018-05-11
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Mackenzie, J. (2018). ‘Good mums don’t, apparently, wear make-up’: negotiating discourses of gendered parenthood in Mumsnet Talk. Gender and Language, 12(1), 114-135. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.31062
