Young pregnant women's discursive constructions of the body and health

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis was to explore young pregnant women's discursive constructions of the pregnant body and health in the context of the dominant obesity discourse. Conversations with 15 young pregnant women from the Ottawa area were tape-recorded, transcribed, and then analyzed using a thematic and feminist poststructuralist discourse analysis. The results were divided into two articles, the first discussing the women's constructions of health during pregnancy and the second, their constructions of the pregnant body. The narratives reveal that overall the women constitute themselves as neoliberal subjects reproducing dominant patriarchal discourses (e.g., obesity, personal and moral responsibility for health, femininity). Paradoxically, many of these women also show awareness of the contradictions between dominant health and bodily discourses and personal experience, thus leading to alternative and more disruptive subject positions. Impacts, implications, and future research directions are discussed.