When no means no

Abstract

Cultural discourses of femininity and women's social role have historically and traditionally been constructed around motherhood. However, recent studies into women's childbearing intentions have revealed an increasing number of women in Western Europe and the United States choosing to remain childless. Thus, a distinction has emerged between cultural discourses on femininity and the experiences of an increasing number of women. This article considers the questions that emerge from this. In particular, to what extent and in what ways might cultural discourses of motherhood and femininity have declined and transformed as women's lives have changed. What might be the implications of this for constructions of femininity and identity in women. Drawing on an empirical study into voluntary childlessness amongst women, this article argues that pronatalist discourses and those that denigrate voluntary childlessness persist despite the considerable changes and increased autonomy experienced by women during the second half of the 20th century. However, through rejecting and resisting discourses that conflate femininity with motherhood, childless women create new discourses that can subvert and transform constructions of femininity. The article concludes that the advent of these new and alternative discourses signify the emergence of a radical feminine identity, distinct and unshackled from motherhood.