This text describes the moral decision-making process toward unwed motherhood based on a 15-year longitudinal study of 50 Israeli single women aged 30 and over, each of whom decided to have a child on her own following a short- or long-term relationship with a male partner. The author views these women as conscious resisters to the societal script of marriage, reproduction and motherhood, and documents their narratives of moral subjectivity.
'...compelling account of moral decision-making in the search for an authentic moral self. ...there is much here that will prompt critical rethinking of our more general notions of moral functioning.' Journal of Moral Education, 31:1 (2002)
Innehållsförteckning
Introduction—Motherhood as a New War Zone.- Moral Psychology in War.- 1. Motherhood as a Moral Position.- The “Separate” Moral Position.- “Separate” Moral Resistance in War.- “Separate” Moral Resistance in the Family.- The “Connected” Moral Position.- “Connected” Moral Resistance in War.- “Connected” Moral Resistance in the Family.- 2. Motherhood as a Wish.- The Wish for a Child.- Age 30—A Cut-off Point?.- “Thirty-Nothing”?.- The Decision to Have a Child.- 3. Motherhood as a Decision—1983.- The Origin of the Idea of Out of Wedlock Childbearing.- Past Abortions.- Type of Pregnancy.- Expectations Regarding the Child’s Gender.- Reasons for Planning and Keeping the Pregnancy.- Coping with the Consequences of the Action.- Childbearing and Self-Satisfaction.- The Experience of the Father.- Present Dilemmas and Future Orientation.- The Economic Dilemma.- 4. Motherhood as an Experience—1990.- Miri, 43, a Teacher, Mother of a 13-Year-Old Son.- Roni, 44, an Artist, Mother of a 14-Year-Old Son.- Shimrit, 50, a Clerk, Mother of a 13-Year-Old Son.- Tina, 50, a Retired Army Officer, Mother of a Nine-Year-Old Son.- Nurit (1990) 50, Elementary School Teacher, Mother of a Seven-Year-Old Son.- 5. Motherhood as Development—1997.- Ayelet (1983) 37, Mother of a 3-Year-Old Daughter.- Ayelet (1990).- Ayelet (1997).- 6. Motherhood as Narrative of Moral Resistance.- Women’s Narrative of Resistance.- Geography of the Possible?.- Redefining “Otherness”?.- Liberation from the Other’s Discourse.- Ways of Facing Conflicts?.- A Practice of Preservative Love?.- Ways of Living with Others?.- Mature Unwed Motherhood as a Missing Text in Therapy.- Language.- Reality.- Self.- Truth.- Knowledge.- Power.- 7. Conclusion.- Motherhood as a Moral Position.- MoralPsychology and Resistance Reconsidered.- References.
