MATRIX OF TENSIONS |
| |
Authors: | Yael Oberman Ruthellen Josselson |
| |
Affiliation: | Department of Psychology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem;Department of Psychology, Towson State University |
| |
Abstract: | Questions about how women integrate maternity into their sense of self have generated a quest for an heuristic model. We suggest that mothers struggle to balance themselves amid a set of polarities/tensions and that mothering can be situated within a phenomenological matrix of such tensions. We propose a model that includes the following developmental issues: loss of self/expansion of self; omnipotence/liability; life-destroying/life-promoting behavior; maternal isolation/maternal community; cognitive strategies/intuitive responses; maternal desexualization/maternal sexualization. Investigation and understanding of how mothers cope with these tensions could yield insights into both universal and particular aspects of mothering. |
| |
Keywords: | |
|
|