“And it was all my choice but it didn’t feel like a choice”: a re-examination of interpretation of data using a ‘rhetoric of choice’ lens

This research aims to re-examine interpretations of data collected from second-time 2 mothers about their experiences of becoming a mother to a second child using lenses of 3 rhetoric of choice and choice feminism. The interpretations are reconsidered to identify 4 ways in which tensions between maternal status and researcher positionality have 5 influenced the ways they were reached. The paper describes two studies, each conducted 6 by one of the authors, and the interpretations of the data made at the time the research 7 was carried out. It discusses alternative interpretations and how they challenge both the 8 researcher role and theoretical explanations of gender inequity and attachment. The paper 9 concludes that feminist research can be strengthened by attending to the intersections 10 between maternal status, and positioning as feminist, woman and researcher

Please cite published article as: Frost, Nollaig and Rodriguez, Deborah (2015) “And it was all my choice but it didn’t feel like a choice”: a re-examination of interpretation of data using a ‘rhetoric of choice’ lens. Women's Studies International Forum, 53 . pp. 192-199.