成为母亲——城市女性生育实践中的敬畏与纠结

Becoming Mothers: The Reverence and Anxiety during Child Bearing and Rearing Practice of Urban Women

因为生理上的自然性和社会认同的普遍性,使得女人被认为天生就会做母亲。这种理所当然的常识需要被质疑——无论是生理上还是角色上,成为母亲并不是像看起来的那样是一个瓜熟蒂落的结果。当前母亲角色的形成受到现代社会与生育技术的影响,在女性成为母亲的过程中贯穿着不断的学习,面临各种话语体系的矛盾。按照生育的自然历程,女性的生育实践分为备孕—怀孕—育儿三个阶段,通过讨论每个阶段女性生理上、心智上的纠结无奈以及在其中的选择与调适,可以看出母亲的身份是获得性的,即首先通过一种强烈的生理和心理过程——怀孕与生孩子,然后通过哺育孩子技能的学习、了解。

Women are considered born mothers because of physiological characteristics and social identity. This commonsense which is taken for granted should be questioned. Nowadays the acquisition of motherhood has been deeply affected by modern reproductive technology. During the process of becoming mothers, women keep learning how to be good mothers and at the same time they are confronted by contradictions between different discourse systems. This article takes the women＇s physiological course as a master line and it can be divided into three stages to describe, preparation, pregnancy and rearing. It concerns women＇s confusion, selection and adjustment during the process of becoming mothers, and it is an attempt to illustrate that the motherhood is acquired through physiological and psychological changes