Childfree and Happy : Transforming the Rhetoric of Women's Reproductive Choices

Childfree and Happy examines how millennia of reproductive beliefs (or doxa ) have positioned women who choose not to have children as deviant or outside the norm. Considering affect and emotion alongside the lived experiences of women who have chosen not to have children, Courtney Adams Wooten offers a new theoretical lens to feminist rhetorical scholars’ examinations of reproductive rhetorics and how they circulate through women’s lives by paying attention not just to spoken or written beliefs but also to affectual circulations of reproductive doxa. Through interviews with thirty-four childfree women and analysis of childfree rhetorics circulating in historical and contemporary texts and events, this book demonstrates how childfree women individually and collectively try to speak back to common beliefs about their reproductive experiences, even as they struggle to make their identities legible in a sociocultural context that centers motherhood. Childfree and Happy theorizes how affect and rhetoric work together to circulate reproductive doxa by using Sara Ahmed’s theories of gendered happiness scripts to analyze what reproductive doxa is embedded in those scripts and how they influence rhetoric by, about, and around childfree women. Delving into how childfree women position their decision not to have children and the different types of interactions they have with others about this choice, including family members, friends, colleagues, and medical professionals, Childfree and Happy also explores how communities that make space for alternative happiness scripts form between childfree women and those who support them. It will be of interest to scholars in the fields of the rhetoric of motherhood/mothering, as well as feminist rhetorical studies. Childfree and Happy examines how millennia of reproductivebeliefs (or doxa) have positioned women who choose not tohave children as deviant or outside the norm. Considering affectand emotion alongside the lived experiences of women who havechosen not to have children, Courtney Adams Wooten offers a newtheoretical lens to feminist rhetorical scholars' examinations ofreproductive rhetorics and how they circulate through women's livesby paying attention not just to spoken or written beliefs but alsoto affectual circulations of reproductive doxa. Through interviewswith thirty-four childfree women and analysis of childfreerhetorics circulating in historical and contemporary texts andevents, this book demonstrates how childfree women individually andcollectively try to speak back to common beliefs about theirreproductive experiences, even as they struggle to make theiridentities legible in a sociocultural context that centersmotherhood. Childfree and Happy theorizes how affect andrhetoric work together to circulate reproductive doxa by using SaraAhmed's theories of gendered happiness scripts to analyze whatreproductive doxa is embedded in those scripts and how theyinfluence rhetoric by, about, and around childfree women. Delvinginto how childfree women position their decision not to havechildren and the different types of interactions they have withothers about this choice, including family members, friends,colleagues, and medical professionals, Childfree and Happyalso explores how communities that make space for alternativehappiness scripts form between childfree women and those whosupport them. It will be of interest to scholars in the fields ofthe rhetoric of motherhood/mothering, as well as feministrhetorical studies