Toward an Intersectional Psychological Science of Reproductive Norms: Generating Research Across the Natalism Spectrum. (September 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Fikslin, Rachel A.
• Is Part Of: Psychology of women quarterly. Volume 45:Number 3(2021)
• Page Start: 308
• Page End: 324
• Publication Date: 2021-09
• Subjects: pronatalism -- antinatalism -- stratified reproduction -- motherhood -- childfree -- stigma -- intersectionality; Women -- Psychology -- Periodicals; 155.33305
• DOI: 10.1177/03616843211011716
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0361-6843

Abstract

Pronatalism is the belief system that encourages parenthood and reproduction, supporting the notion that a woman's value is rooted in her ability to give birth to and parent children. Pronatalist expectations are disproportionately applied to high-status women in the United States, prescribing not only that women are supposed to reproduce, but which women are supposed to reproduce. Those who deviate from this hegemonic idea of a prototypical mother may disproportionately encounter antinatalist norms that prescribe that they should not bear or parent children. In the present article, I advocate for an intersectional psychological study of reproductive norms across the natalism spectrum, grounded in interdisciplinary insights and an understanding of systems of power and oppression. I discuss three common areas of interdisciplinary research related to reproductive norms: (a) pronatalism as a limit to women's freedom, (b) racism and the control of Black women's reproduction, and (c) queer perspectives on reproduction. Informed by intersectionality and stigma frameworks, I propose a generative model and six research questions that serve as a research agenda for the psychological study of reproductive norms across the natalism spectrum.