Mature Unwed Mothers: Narratives of Moral ResistanceI have often wondered if the opposition to women's choosing to abort a pregnancy masks a fear of women choosing to have and raise children on their own. When a woman separatesmotherhood from marriage, she claims a freedom in the realm of intimate rela tionships that may be as fundamental as Freedom of Conscience or Freedom of Association. Yet, we do not usually think about women's decisions concerning motherhood in these terms. In a pair of remarkable studies begun in the 1980s, Ruth Linn-pregnant at the time, and married to a medical officer in the Israeli army-took the study of moral psychology into two highly controversial arenas of moral action: Israeli soldiers who refused to serve in Lebanon and single women who refused to remain childless. While conscientious objection to war has long been recognized as an act ofmoral resistance and courage,women who question societal norms and values linking motherhood with marriage, are typically dismissed as bad women. Rather than approaching these questions in the abstract, Linn chose to inter view women who made the decision to have and raise children on their own. What she found was that in the course of making this decision, women came to see themselves as moral resisters. In freeing their childbearing capability from men's control,they were also freeing their capacity to love. The very title of this book, Mature Unwed Mothers, calls us to think about what we mean by maturity on the part of mothers. |
Contents
IntroductionMotherhood as a New War Zone | 1 |
Motherhood as a Moral Position | 11 |
Motherhood as a Wish | 23 |
Age 30A Cutoff Point? | 29 |
The Decision to Have a Child | 35 |
Motherhood as a Decision1983 | 41 |
Present Dilemmas and Future Orientation | 54 |
Motherhood as an Experience1990 | 65 |
Nurit 1990 50 Elementary School Teacher Mother of | 83 |
Motherhood as Development1997 | 91 |
Motherhood as Narrative of Moral Resistance | 109 |
Ways of Facing Conflicts? | 118 |
Mature Unwed Motherhood as a Missing Text | 124 |
Moral Psychology and Resistance Reconsidered | 136 |
References | 149 |
Shimrit 50 a Clerk Mother of a 13YearOld | 75 |
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abortion action asked assume a position autonomy baby biological clock bring a child Carol Gilligan childbearing choice concept connection conscientious objector context cope courage cultural daughter Debbie decision defined detachment discourse divorced emotional experience father feel feminine feminist friends gender girls give birth Hekman husband idea of motherhood Israel Israel Defense Forces Israeli justice knew Kohlberg Lawrence Kohlberg Linn & Gilligan live Ludtke male marriage mature unwed mothers moral critic moral development moral position moral psychology moral resistance moral voices narrative of moral never Okin one's parents partner person position of criticism position of resistance pregnancy problem psychological psychological price public sphere Rawls refused relationship responsibility role sample seems selfish single mothers single women social society stories suggest talk tell theory therapy tion told University of Haifa unwed motherhood veil of ignorance Walzer wedlock wish woman York
Popular passages
Page 152 - JC (1998). Women's Sexuality across the Life Span: Challenging Myths, Creating Meanings.