Bad mothers, good mothers and professional mothers: a study on narratives on maternity in Spanish Instagram spaces.

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15847/obsOBS15220211780

Keywords:

social media, instagram, feminism, motherhood, narratives

Abstract

This paper focuses on an analysis of the narratives present in a set of eight Instagram accounts devoted to sharing information on maternity in the Spanish context. In a qualitative approach that uses participant observation and content analysis (5184 posts), the main objective is to identify the narratives surrounding maternity and to elaborate their relationship with feminist discourses, thus comparing them with previous and current conceptions and representations of motherhood in media. A second aim is to understand the role of information and expertise in these spaces. The results reveal three approaches: affirmative and child-centred narratives, feminist counter-narratives, and discourses on professionalization and authoritative knowledge.

Author Biography

Gemma San Cornelio, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya

Senior Lecturer at the Information and Communication Studies Department at Open University of Catalonia (UOC). Researcher on digitial visual culture and social media, creative praactices and participacion.

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Published

2021-06-23

How to Cite

San Cornelio, G. (2021). Bad mothers, good mothers and professional mothers: a study on narratives on maternity in Spanish Instagram spaces. Observatorio (OBS*), 15(2). https://doi.org/10.15847/obsOBS15220211780

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Section

Articles