Constructing and Deconstructing the Body Malleable through Mother–Daughter Interactions

Abstract

This interpretive study explores how mothers and their adolescent daughters respond to and interact about the body malleable ideology, or cultural discourses that normalize thinness and promote the body as changeable. In‐depth interviews were conducted with 20 mothers and their daughters. Grounded theory analysis revealed two responses to the body malleable ideology—the acceptance or rejection of the body as a malleable object. Participants expressed ambivalence about this ideology and related cultural discourses. Further, through their interactions, mothers and daughters both constructed and deconstructed the ideology of a malleable body. Three patterns of dyadic experience were identified: Pattern A, in which both the mother and daughter accepted the body malleable ideology, Pattern B, in which both the mother and daughter rejected the body malleable ideology, and Pattern C, in which the mother rejected and the daughter accepted the body malleable ideology. In taking an in‐depth look at the cases of three dyads, we explore defining characteristics of these patterns. We also present a grounded theory model developed to illustrate relationships discovered in this study.