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'Please don't put the whole dang thing out there!': a discursive analysis of internet discussions around infant feeding

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Callaghan, J. and Lazard, L. (2012) 'Please don't put the whole dang thing out there!': a discursive analysis of internet discussions around infant feeding. Psychology & Health. 27(8), pp. 938-955. 0887-0446.
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Creators:Callaghan, J. and Lazard, L.
Abstract:
The promotion of breastfeeding is an important focus of intervention for professionals working to improve infant health outcomes. Literature in this area focuses largely on ‘choices’ and ‘barriers to breastfeeding’. It is our argument, however, that women’s cultural context plays a key role in infant feeding ‘choices’. In this paper, we explore contested representations of infant feeding and infant feeding choices in public debates conducted on a large British parenting website. We identify dominant constructions of women who breastfeed or bottle feed, social representations of both forms of infant feeding, and explore the relationship between constructions of infant feeding choices and constructions of ‘good’ or ‘bad’ motherhood. To sample dominant representations of infant feeding circulating in UK culture, two threads were chosen from the debating board of a busy online parenting community (105 and 99 individual posts respectively). Participants on the threads were largely women. A feminist informed Foucauldian discourse analysis was used to deconstruct the intersecting constructions of gender, childhood and motherhood implicit in public discussions about infant feeding choices. This analysis functions to trouble the individualist assumptions underpinning the notion of infant feeding ‘choices’, considering the cultural context within which British mothers ‘choose’ how to feed their babies
Official URL:http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0887044...
Item Type:Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:Breast feeding, breastfeeding, infant feeding, discourse analysis, 'bad' mothering, online debate, social representations
Subjects:H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Women > HQ755.7 Parents. Parenthood > HQ759 Motherhood
R Medicine > RJ Pediatrics > RJ206 Nutrition and feeding of children and adolescents
Schools and Departments:School of Social Sciences
School of Social Sciences > Psychology
DOI:10.1080/08870446.2011.634294
Date:2012
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