Sexual subjectivities of British mothers, 1840-1939

英国母亲的性主体性，1840-1939

• 批准号: 2876303
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Birmingham
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2876303
• 关键词: Sexual; subjectivities; British; mothers; 1840

My research explores the lived experience(s) of pregnancy between 1918 and 1945, as well as how these experiences were translated into discourse. I am interested in the tensions between how pregnancy was portrayed in didactic texts, such as medical literature and advice manuals, and in women's own accounts of their pregnancies, as can be found in letters, diaries, and other first-person sources. What did it feel like-physically, emotionally, sexually, spiritually, and otherwise- to be pregnant in this time period? How were these feelings expressed in words, and by whom?My project relies heavily on letters written to Dr Marie Stopes, the Scottish botanist and sex reformer who was among Britain's birth control pioneers. Her books, most notably Married Love (1918) and Radiant Motherhood (1920), were smash hits, and for decades her readers wrote to her with their questions about sex, marriage, contraception, pregnancy, childrearing, and more. Whilst these letters have been studied in the context of, for example, the history of birth control, masculinity, and marital relationships, they have thus far been overlooked in the study of pregnancy, and it is here that my research will intervene.My work also makes use of several Mass Observation diaries dating from the Second World War. The history of pregnancy during wartime has been severely under-studied, and I aim to fill this lacuna using valuable first-hand testimony from diarists who were pregnant between 1939 and 1945, including the renowned Scottish novelist Naomi Mitchison. An almost-unknown 1942 'autobiography of motherhood' by the journalist Ann Vasta, which recounts her 1941 experience of conception, pregnancy, and birth, rounds out my corpus for this period.Fiction and poetry are also crucial sources for my thesis. Elizabeth Cambridge's semi-autobiographical 1933 novel Hostages to Fortune depicts a country doctor's young wife in her journey through-and occasional ambivalence towards-motherhood in straitened circumstances, whilst Enid Bagnold's 1938 The Squire follows an aristocratic middle-aged mother through the final days of her fifth pregnancy. Vera Brittain's 1936 novel Honourable Estate becomes almost a polemic in its dramatic and highly politicised depiction of three generations of twentieth-century mothers. Additionally, two previously undiscovered poems by the Derbyshire poet Teresa Hooley offer a tender and lyrical glimpse into the emotions she experienced during her pregnancy in 1924.To date, I have presented portions of my thesis work at the Maternal Bodies Symposium (University of Birmingham, June 2023); the International Association for Maternal Action and Scholarship annual conference (Boston University, June 2024); and the Social History Society annual conference (Durham University, July 2024). My supervisors are Professor Matt Houlbrook and Dr Anne Hanley.

我的研究探讨了1918年至1945年间怀孕的生活经历，以及这些经历如何转化为话语。我感兴趣的是，在诸如医学文献和建议手册之类的说教文本中，怀孕是如何被描述的，而在妇女自己对怀孕的描述中，可以在信件、日记和其他第一人称来源中找到。在这段时间里，怀孕是一种什么样的感觉——身体上、情感上、性上、精神上和其他方面？这些感受是如何用语言表达的，又是由谁表达的？我的项目在很大程度上依赖于写给玛丽·斯托普斯博士的信。玛丽·斯托普斯博士是苏格兰植物学家和性改革家，也是英国计划生育的先驱之一。她的书，最著名的是《已婚之爱》（1918）和《光芒四射的母亲》（1920），都是轰动一时的作品，几十年来，她的读者写信给她，询问他们关于性、婚姻、避孕、怀孕、育儿等问题。虽然这些信件已经在诸如节育、男子气概和婚姻关系的历史背景下进行了研究，但迄今为止，它们在怀孕研究中被忽视了，而我的研究将在这里进行干预。我的作品还使用了几本可以追溯到第二次世界大战的大规模观察日记。战争期间怀孕的历史一直没有得到足够的研究，我的目标是利用1939年至1945年间怀孕的日记作者的宝贵第一手证词来填补这一空白，其中包括著名的苏格兰小说家内奥米·米奇森（Naomi Mitchison）。1942年，记者安·瓦斯塔（Ann Vasta）写了一本几乎不为人知的《母性自传》（autobiography of motherhood），讲述了她1941年受孕、怀孕和分娩的经历。这本书充实了我这一时期的写作素材。小说和诗歌也是我论文的重要来源。伊丽莎白·坎布里奇1933年的半自传式小说《命运的人质》描绘了一位乡村医生的年轻妻子在艰难的环境中为人母的过程——偶尔也会出现矛盾心理。而伊妮德·巴格诺德1938年的《乡绅》则讲述了一位贵族中年母亲第五次怀孕的最后几天。薇拉·布里顿1936年的小说《光荣的财产》对20世纪三代母亲的戏剧性和高度政治化的描述几乎成为了一场论战。此外，德比郡诗人特蕾莎·胡利（Teresa Hooley）的两首此前未被发现的诗，让我们得以一见她在1924年怀孕期间所经历的温柔而抒情的情感。迄今为止，我已经在母体研讨会（伯明翰大学，2023年6月）上展示了我的部分论文工作；国际产妇行动和奖学金协会年会（波士顿大学，2024年6月）；以及社会历史学会年会（杜伦大学，2024年7月）。我的导师是马特·霍尔布鲁克教授和安妮·汉利博士。