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Hapless, helpless, hopeless: an analysis of stepmothers' talk about their (male) partners

Research Output: Contribution to journal Article Peer-review

Abstract

The identity of stepmother is, in many ways, a troubled one – constructed as “other” and often associated with notions of “wickedness” in literature and everyday talk. This paper reports findings from a study on the difficulties faced by stepmothers and how they use talk about their (male) partners, often constructing men as hapless, helpless or hopeless, to repair their “troubled” identities. The data were collected from a web forum for stepmothers based in the UK and 13 semi-structured face-to-face interviews with stepmothers. The analysis took a synthetic narrative-discursive methodological approach, underpinned by feminist theory with particular attention to the discourses that were drawn on by participants and the constraints that these imposed. This paper presents these findings in relation to three constructions of their partners through which repair work was attempted: men as in need of rescue; men as flawed fathers; and men as damaged. The paper concludes with some suggestions for supporting stepmothers by challenging dominant narratives around families in talk, in the media and in government and institutional policies.

Publication Information

Output type

Research Output: Contribution to journal Article Peer-review

Original language

English

Pages from-to (Number of pages)

Pages 248-266

Journal (Volume, Issue Number)

Feminism and Psychology (Volume 30, Issue 2)

Publication milestones

  • Published - 31/03/2020

Publication status

Published - 31/03/2020

ISSN

0959-3535

External Publication IDs

  • handle.net: 10547/624056
  • Scopus: 85082969511

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