RT Article
T1 Discourses of Good Motherhood and the Policing of Young Parenthood
JF Women & criminal justice
VO 30
IS 5
SP 374
OP 390
A1 Varadi, Amber-Lee
A2 Raby, Rebecca 1968-
A2 Tardif-Williams, Christine
LA English
YR 2020
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1780442734
AB Within a neoliberal context, youth pregnancy continues to be socially recognized as an individualized mistake, influencing young mothers by shaping and constraining their actions and lifestyle choices. Utilizing a Foucauldian and poststructural feminist lens, and drawing on interviews with 11 young mothers, this research examines how, where, and why young mothers experience forms of policing. Participants conceptualized “good” motherhood through two qualities—“being there” and “taking care of herself too”—which simultaneously reproduce and resist hegemonic discourses related to normative mothering and neoliberalism. Findings also reveal how real and perceived instances of judgement resulted in young mothers’ policing and/or self-policing.
K1 Age
K1 Discourse
K1 Inequality
K1 Policing
K1 Young motherhood
DO 10.1080/08974454.2020.1741486