Articles & chapters by Tracy Morison
The Cambridge Handbook of the International Psychology of Women, 2020
Major historical shifts in the field of fertility, childbirth and parenting have implications for... more Major historical shifts in the field of fertility, childbirth and parenting have implications for feminist psychologists working on these topics. These shifts include approaches to sexuality and reproduction: a population control emphasis in the late 1940s, a reproductive rights paradigm in the 1990s, and progression from reproductive rights to reproductive justice. Feminist psychologists must traverse the political landscape created by these broad approaches. In this chapter, we suggest ways in which such engagement may be facilitated through examination of mainstream assumptions and outcomes and the use of nuanced feminist research. Drawing from transnational feminisms, the principles of reproductive justice, and examples of research and interventions in reproductive decision-making, abortion, obstetric violence, 'deviant' (m)others, early reproduction and contraception, we argue that feminist psychology should attend to both global and cross-cutting power relations concerning fertility and reproduction, as well as localised dynamics.
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Intersections of mothering: Feminist accounts
In this chapter, we show how the boundaries of acceptable mothering are demarcated and regulated ... more In this chapter, we show how the boundaries of acceptable mothering are demarcated and regulated through reference to the ‘Other’ (Woollett & Phoenix, 1997). Using examples of ‘womxn’ who refuse motherhood, terminate pregnancies and reproduce when considered to be too young, we outline how womxn who ‘fail’ at normative mothering or who deviate from expected reproductive decisions form the pathologised presence that pre-defines the absent trace of normative mothering and the successful accomplishment of womxnhood (Macleod, 2001). We use the term ‘womxn’ and ‘womxnhood’ to disrupt normative assumptions about gender and sex, here taken to be socially constructed, which write gender and sex onto individuals. In this chapter, the term ‘womxn’ denotes and recognises womxn-identifying persons with the biological capacity to become pregnant, including intersex and transgender individuals. We also use this term to foreground the experiences of womxn of colour, womxn from/living in the global South, trans, queer and intersex womxn, as well as all womxn-identifying persons who have been excluded from dominant constructions of ‘womanhood’ and feminist praxis on the subject (Ashlee, Zamora & Karikari, 2017; Merbruja, 2015).
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Feminism & Psychology, 2019
Youth sexuality is typically constructed as a social problem, and associated with a range of nega... more Youth sexuality is typically constructed as a social problem, and associated with a range of negative consequences for larger society and for young people themselves-especially young women. The media play a role in perpetuating this dominant construction, but may also offer a space for resistance. In this article, mainstream news media reportage on youth sexual and reproductive issues in Aotearoa are discursively analysed to identify instances of resistance to oppressive discourses. Taking a feminist poststructuralist perspective, the aim is to connect news reporting, as a representational practice, with broader relations of power. The focus of the analysis, therefore, is on whether and how young people are allowed a voice in news reportage, and to what effect their voices are deployed. The analysis demonstrates not only that youth voice is relatively muted in comparison to experts, but also that it is frequently used to reinforce the dominant constructions of youth sexuality (as problematic and risky). Yet, instances of resistance are also evident. These are assessed in relation to their impact on gender power relations and possibilities for amplifying resistance are discussed.
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SAGE Handbook of Applied Social Psychology., 2019
An important area within applied social psychology is the health and wellbeing of individuals, co... more An important area within applied social psychology is the health and wellbeing of individuals, communities, and societies and how this is related to broader social, cultural, and global contexts. Drawing on the insights and methods of social psychology, critical health psychology works to interrogate these relationships to improve health and wellbeing outcomes. In this way, it extends beyond the more conventional approaches to physical health and wellbeing found in traditional health psychology (Horrocks and Johnson, 2012). Critical health psychologists are interested in advancing new psychological understandings of health and illness. Like applied social psychologists, they are also committed to finding ways to contribute to the transformation of an unhealthy world (Murray and Poland, 2006). These two features delineate the ‘critical’ in critical health psychology. Taking such an approach to health psychology, therefore, means opening one’s eyes to new ways of seeing health-related issues (Lyons and Chamberlain, 2017).
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Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 2018
Using the case of Sexual and Reproductive Health Strategy in Aotearoa (New Zealand), ... more Using the case of Sexual and Reproductive Health Strategy in Aotearoa (New Zealand), this article interrogates the dominant risk discourse in sexual and reproductive health policy. It highlights the tensions between risk discourse and broader equity goals, which are increasingly seen as significant within sexual and reproductive health. Working within a poststructuralist perspective, discursive methodology is used to explore the positioning of youth in ten (10) policy documents. The analysis shows how the risk discourse, along with a developmental discourse, creates three common youth subject positions: youth as at risk and vulnerable, as not-yet citizens, and as especially vulnerable relative to other young people. It demonstrates how these positions may be associated with ‘new’ or covert forms of morality and stigmatisation. Detailing the implications for ethnic minorities in particular, it adds to prior analyses of gender- and class-based inequities. The Sexual and Reproductive Justice framework, which encompasses notions of rights and justice, is discussed as an alternative to risk-based policy development that can attend to sexual and reproductive health inequities.
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Bisexual erasure refers to the cultural de-legitimation of bisexuality as an intelligible sexual ... more Bisexual erasure refers to the cultural de-legitimation of bisexuality as an intelligible sexual identity. There is little South African research that considers how this occurs. Generally bisexuality is “a silenced sexuality” both in popular and academic discourse. Research has not attended to (women’s) “self-aware bisexual identities”, tending to focus on men’s bisexual practices or other people’s perceptions of bisexuals. This article is intended as a starting point for further local research. Using an intersectionality approach, it looks at how race, class, space and gender intertwine with sexuality in ways that further compound marginalisation or provide avenues for resistance to dominant norms from an autobiographical perspective. The analysis shows how bisexual erasure occurs through acts of non-recognition and misrecognition, as well as instances of resistance.
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In Chapter 11, Julia C. Nentwich and Tracy Morison discuss Judith Butler's theory of performativi... more In Chapter 11, Julia C. Nentwich and Tracy Morison discuss Judith Butler's theory of performativity in the process of self-making.
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Several qualitative researchers using discursive methodologies have noted how opposition to homos... more Several qualitative researchers using discursive methodologies have noted how opposition to homosexuality has not necessarily diminished, despite the general expression of liberal tolerance in many settings. Instead, heterosexist rhetoric has shifted to accommodate political change. Our research builds on this observation within the South African context, using a discursive psychology approach. We examine rhetorical strategies of " heterosexual recuperation " : the ways that heterosexual boundaries and the dominance of heterosexuality are maintained by speakers, at the same time as they attempt to avoid being heard as heterosexist. Drawing on data from a qualitative study conducted with heterosexual-identifying Black South Africans (32) from four provinces, we focus on talk that was resourced by a " discourse of tolerance " and characterised by speakers' concern to avoid the attribution of heterosexism. This talk was analysed using thematic analysis, to which discursive psychology techniques were applied. We identified two ways of speaking that relied on this discourse – (1) " As long as they do it in private " , and (2) " Flashing their homosexuality " – and show how they ultimately worked to recuperate heterosexuality and marginalise non-normative sexualities. We discuss the implications of these findings in relation to a critical psychology that works to challenge hetero-patriarchal norms.
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Worldwide, sexual and gender minorities struggle to access sexual and reproductive health (SRH) s... more Worldwide, sexual and gender minorities struggle to access sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services. In South Africa, sexual prejudice is entrenched and pervasive in health systems and SRH services do not cater for a diverse range of people. Though health reform is underway, little attention has been given to how sexuality is being addressed in this process, particularly in the National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme currently being piloted. We analyse interview data generated in an NHI pilot district, using discursive methodology, informed by a sexual and reproductive justice standpoint. We show how sexual and gender minorities are discursively in/visibilised in health settings and discuss these findings in relation to the social justice and solidarity aims of health systems reform.
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There is increasing visibility of dissident sexualities and genders in media debates about famili... more There is increasing visibility of dissident sexualities and genders in media debates about families, including resistant discourses that challenge delegitimising claims about queer families. There remains, however, a lack of research that assesses the ways in which discourses seeking to defend queer parenthood function to challenge or, at times, reinforce hetero-gendered norms. Families formed by gay men have generally received less attention, both in the media as well as academic scholarship. In this paper, we explore resistant discourses deployed in mainstream print media, attending particularly to news reports about queer fathers and their children. Through a critical thematic analysis of South African newspapers, informed by feminist discursive psychology, we identify four themes in resistant ways of talking: de-gendering parenthood, normalising queer parents, valorising queer parenting, and challenging the heteronormative gold standard. We conclude with the political implications of such resistant talk, as part of a project of transforming restrictive hetero-gendered norms.
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Psychology of Women Quarterly
People who are voluntarily childless, or ‘‘childfree,’’ face considerable stigma. Researchers hav... more People who are voluntarily childless, or ‘‘childfree,’’ face considerable stigma. Researchers have begun to explore how these
individuals respond to stigma, usually focusing on interpersonal stigma management strategies. We explored participants’
responses to stigma in a way that is cognisant of broader social norms and gender power relations. Using a feminist discursive
psychology framework, we analysed women’s and men’s computer-assisted communication about their childfree status. Our
analysis draws attention to ‘‘identity work’’ in the context of stigma. We show how the strategic use of ‘‘choice’’ rhetoric
allowed participants to avoid stigmatised identities and was used in two contradictory ways. On the one hand, participants
drew on a ‘‘childfree-by-choice script,’’ which enabled them to hold a positive identity of themselves as autonomous, rational,
and responsible decision makers. On the other hand, they mobilised a ‘‘disavowal of choice script’’ that allowed a person who
is unable to choose childlessness (for various reasons) to hold a blameless identity regarding deviation from the norm of
parenthood. We demonstrate how choice rhetoric allowed participants to resist stigma and challenge pronatalism to some
extent; we discuss the political potential of these scripts for reproductive freedom.
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Qualitative Research in Psychology, Jul 2015
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Qualitative Inquiry
Judith Butler’s theory of performativity provides gender theorists with a rich theoretical langua... more Judith Butler’s theory of performativity provides gender theorists with a rich theoretical language for thinking about gender. Despite this, Butlerian theory is difficult to apply, as Butler does not provide guidance on actual analysis of language use in context. In order to address this limitation, we suggest carefully supplementing performativity with the notion of performance in a manner that allows for the inclusion of relational specificities and the mechanisms through which gender, and gender trouble, occur. To do this, we turn to current developments within discursive psychology and narrative theory. We extend the narrative-discursive method proposed by Taylor and colleagues, infusing it with Butlerian theory in order to fashion a dual analytical lens, which we call the performativity-performance approach. We provide a brief example of how the proposed analytical process may be implemented.
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Qualitative Inquiry, 2013
Judith Butler’s theory of performativity provides gender theorists with a rich theoretical langua... more Judith Butler’s theory of performativity provides gender theorists with a rich theoretical language for thinking about gender. Despite this, Butlerian theory is difficult to apply, as Butler does not provide guidance on actual analysis of language use in context. In order to address this limitation, we suggest carefully supplementing performativity with the notion of performance in a manner that allows for the inclusion of relational specificities and the mechanisms through which gender, and gender trouble, occur. To do this, we turn to current developments within discursive psychology and narrative theory. We extend the narrative-discursive method proposed by Taylor and colleagues, infusing it with Butlerian theory in order to fashion a dual analytical lens, which we call the performativity-performance approach. We provide a brief example of how the proposed analytical process may be implemented.
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Qualitative Research, 2013
Researchers who have attempted to make sense of silence in data have generally considered literal... more Researchers who have attempted to make sense of silence in data have generally considered literal silences or such things as laughter. We consider the analysis of veiled silences where participants speak, but their speaking serves as ‘noise’ that ‘veils’, or masks, their inability or unwillingness to talk about a (potentially sensitive) topic. Extending Lisa Mazzei’s ‘problematic of silence’ by using our performativity-performance analytical method, we propose the purposeful use of ‘unusual conversational moves’, the deployment of researcher reflexivity, and the analysis of trouble and repair as methods to expose taken-for-granted normative frameworks in veiled silences. We illustrate the potential of these research practices through reference to our study on men’s involvement in reproductive decision-making, in which participants demonstrated an inability to engage with the topic. The veiled silence that this produced, together with what was said, pointed to the operation of procreative heteronormativity.
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Home Affairs: Rethinking Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Families in Contemporary South Africa (edited by Carien Lubbe-De Beer and John Marnell), 2013
Drawing on a selection of print media reportage, we examine the social and public discourses that... more Drawing on a selection of print media reportage, we examine the social and public discourses that underpin and resist normative meanings associated with ‘the family’ as a social unit and, specifically, how same-gendered families are constructed within this material.
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International Journal of Family Matters
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In D. Wylie (ed.) Toxic Belonging? Identity and Ecology in Southern Africa. Newcastle (UK): Cambridge Scholars Press., 2008
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Articles & chapters by Tracy Morison
individuals respond to stigma, usually focusing on interpersonal stigma management strategies. We explored participants’
responses to stigma in a way that is cognisant of broader social norms and gender power relations. Using a feminist discursive
psychology framework, we analysed women’s and men’s computer-assisted communication about their childfree status. Our
analysis draws attention to ‘‘identity work’’ in the context of stigma. We show how the strategic use of ‘‘choice’’ rhetoric
allowed participants to avoid stigmatised identities and was used in two contradictory ways. On the one hand, participants
drew on a ‘‘childfree-by-choice script,’’ which enabled them to hold a positive identity of themselves as autonomous, rational,
and responsible decision makers. On the other hand, they mobilised a ‘‘disavowal of choice script’’ that allowed a person who
is unable to choose childlessness (for various reasons) to hold a blameless identity regarding deviation from the norm of
parenthood. We demonstrate how choice rhetoric allowed participants to resist stigma and challenge pronatalism to some
extent; we discuss the political potential of these scripts for reproductive freedom.
individuals respond to stigma, usually focusing on interpersonal stigma management strategies. We explored participants’
responses to stigma in a way that is cognisant of broader social norms and gender power relations. Using a feminist discursive
psychology framework, we analysed women’s and men’s computer-assisted communication about their childfree status. Our
analysis draws attention to ‘‘identity work’’ in the context of stigma. We show how the strategic use of ‘‘choice’’ rhetoric
allowed participants to avoid stigmatised identities and was used in two contradictory ways. On the one hand, participants
drew on a ‘‘childfree-by-choice script,’’ which enabled them to hold a positive identity of themselves as autonomous, rational,
and responsible decision makers. On the other hand, they mobilised a ‘‘disavowal of choice script’’ that allowed a person who
is unable to choose childlessness (for various reasons) to hold a blameless identity regarding deviation from the norm of
parenthood. We demonstrate how choice rhetoric allowed participants to resist stigma and challenge pronatalism to some
extent; we discuss the political potential of these scripts for reproductive freedom.
Sarah Herbert, and Daygan Eagar show that the current ‘risk-centred’ policy approach cannot fulfil the government’s aspirations for reducing youth SRH disparities by reaching those “most in need”. They offer an alternative policy approach that draws on a Reproductive Justice framework for addressing the SRH needs of all young people.
discuss some findings from their Ford Foundation-funded research on fatherhood, which turns the spotlight on gay and bisexual men, and explain why encouraging family diversity is important for us all. (Direct link http://www.hsrc.ac.za/en/review/hsrc-review-january-2015/all-in-the-family)
Mpumalanga, with an emphasis on Gert Sibande.
Treating the interviews as jointly produced narratives, I analysed them by means of a performativity/performance lens. This dual analytic lens focuses on how particular narrative performances are simultaneously shaped by the interview setting and the broader discursive context. The lens was fashioned by synthesising Butler’s theory of performativity with Taylor’s narrative-discursive method. This synthesis (1) allows for Butler’s notion of “performativity” to be supplemented with that of “performance”; (2) provides a concrete analytical strategy in the form of positioning analysis; and (3) draws attention to both the micro politics of the interview conversation and the operation of power on the macro level, including the possibility of making “gender trouble”. The findings of the study suggest that the participants experienced difficulty narrating about male involvement in parenthood decision-making, owing to the taken for granted nature of parenthood for heterosexual adults. This was evident in participants’ sidelining of issues of “deciding” and “planning” and their alternate construal of childbearing as a non-choice, which, significantly served to bolster hetero-patriarchal norms. A central rhetorical tool for accomplishing these purposes was found in the construction of the “sacralised” child. In discursively manoeuvring around the central problematic, the participants ultimately produced a “silence” in the data that repeats the one in the research literature.