Desiring Dialectical Discourse: A Feminist Ponders the Transition to Motherhood

Abstract

Contemporary discourse about career motherhood reifies a public/private dichotomy that ignores the evolving obligations and desires in women's lives. Problems arise when complex private stories of pregnancy meet the inflexibility of public discourse and its concomitant social practices. A relational perspective reframes “public/private” from static binary to dynamic dialectic. Mirroring the proposed public and private dialectic, this essay integrates personal stories and critical analysis to illustrate the reciprocal relationship between objective and subjective knowledge.