Mulheres que perderam filhos: um estudo sobre identidade e maternidade

Abstract

Motherhood which is a state naturally associated with the female body has consequences that are not limited to the biological function of reproduction. In many societies women must take responsibility for child care, comfort and provide the necessary conditions for their physical, moral and intellectual development in addition to protect the gestation of the future baby. For many authors, motherhood has a fundamental influence in the construction of female identity in terms of social representations which relate motherhood to women` fullness as well as care and protection of children. Guided by theories and research on identity, motherhood and death, this study investigated the social constructions of motherhood in women who have lost their children under violent or accidental circumstances and its impact on their identity. To this end, a semi-structured interview was carried out individually to seven mothers whose children died under these conditions. The data collected were analyzed through the phenomenological perspective of psychological research. They provided the information for the phenomenon comprehension after their organization into narrative structures. The mothers presented narratives that place women in activities related primarily to child care, responsibilities for its moral formation and success in social life, which revealed an identity closely tied to traditional roles of mother. The results highlighted that the treatment of the topic of death nowadays in association with social constructions of motherhood consisted in elements that accentuate the suffering, feelings of social inadequacy and difficulties to socialize and publicly demonstrate sympathy for the loss of the son in mothers narratives. The research found that the redeeming memories for the children who died provide them desirable social qualities which suggest the need of the mothers to preserve the image of good mothers, even after their son`s death. The violent and tragic event that killed the children went against the mothers expectations that they would die before them, which caused feelings of powerlessness. To deal with missing, longing and to honor the memory of the children who died, the group of mothers chose to keep them alive in their memories by preserving photos, layouts of spaces they have occupied before and their objects so they are not forgotten