{"id":4141,"date":"2022-06-21T20:53:17","date_gmt":"2022-06-21T19:53:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/parentingculturestudies\/?page_id=4141"},"modified":"2024-06-25T15:43:47","modified_gmt":"2024-06-25T14:43:47","slug":"parenting-before-children-parenting-culture-pregnancy-and-the-pre-conception-period","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/parentingculturestudies\/pcs-events\/previous-events\/parenting-before-children-parenting-culture-pregnancy-and-the-pre-conception-period\/","title":{"rendered":"Parenting before Children? Parenting culture, pregnancy and the \u2018pre-conception period\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tuesday 24 May 2022
\n<\/strong>University of Kent, Canterbury Campus
\n<\/strong>12.30 to 6.30pm<\/strong><\/p>\n

This was a joint event with the Centre for Reproductive Research and Communication (CRRC)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You can listen to recordings from this event here <\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Programme outline<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Welcome:
\n<\/strong>Dr Patricia Lohr, Director of the Centre for Reproductive Research & Communication (CRRC) and Prof. Ellie Lee, Director the Centre for Parenting Culture Studies (CPCS) (Chair for the Day)<\/p>\n

Roundtable: Assessing the rise of the preconception period:
\n<\/strong>Dr Kirsty Budds (Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Leeds Beckett University) and Natalie Davies (Society for the Study of Addiction), with responses from Clare Murphy (Chief Executive, British Pregnancy Advisory Service) and Dr Sue Mann (Consultant in Sexual and Reproductive Health).<\/p>\n

Panel discussion: Fetal Disorders and Maternal Responsibilisation:
\n<\/strong>Presentations by Rachel Arkell (ESRC funded PhD Candidate, University of Kent) and Rebecca Blaylock (Research and Engagement Lead, British Pregnancy Advisory Service).<\/p>\n

Paper presentation: \u201cPolicing the maternal mind: Prenatal care and the psychologisation of pregnancy\u201d
\n<\/strong>Presentation by Dr Edm\u00e9e Ballif (Swiss National Science Foundation Reasearch Fellow and visiting scholar at University College London and Rutgers University; Associate at the Centre for Parenting Culture Studies, University of Kent); Discussants: TBC.<\/p>\n

Background reading<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Fit to conceive? Representations of preconception health in the UK press<\/a>,\u00a0<\/strong>Kirsty Budds Leeds Beckett University, UK<\/p>\n

Growing better brains? Pregnancy and neuroscience discourses in English social and welfare policies<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0Pam Lowe, Ellie Lee and Jan Macvarish<\/p>\n

Policing the Maternal Mind: Maternal Health, Psychological Government, and Swiss Pregnancy Politics<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0Edme\u00b4e Ballif, School of Health Sciences (HESAV), HES-SO University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland<\/p>\n

The WRISK Project
\n<\/strong>WRISK was funded by the\u00a0Wellcome Trust<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0to explore women\u2019s experiences of risk messaging in pregnancy, and develop recommendations to align public health messages with women\u2019s needs and lived experiences. Principal Investigator Clare Murphy talks to the SSA\u2019s Natalie Davies about the potential unintended consequences of \u2018abstinence-only\u2019 messages for pregnant women, and why public health messages for pregnant women need to be re-calibrated.
\nFind out more about the WRISK project<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Background to the event <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Research about parenting culture has pointed to the many ways in which \u2018parenting\u2019 tends to extend backwards, to the time before the birth of a child. Scholarship has discussed how the idea that the health and abilities of a child are determined before birth is centuries old. It is found for example, in claims about how a person\u2019s future is given \u2018by the stars\u2019, and in the notion of \u2018maternal imprinting\u2019.<\/p>\n

In the context of modern parenting culture, what prospective parents do \u2013 and especially what pregnant women do \u2013 remains a powerful focus for accounts of what will most determine key aspects of those yet to be born. Perhaps most distinctive, according to some accounts, is the extent of scientisation. Very strong claims purporting to find support in neuroscience, epigenetics, and research about the origins of disease give power and moral urgency to the case for \u2018doing more\u2019. For example, the claim that what happens in the first \u20181001 days\u2019 of life, defined conception as age 2, drives family policy. The power of \u2018parenting\u2019 across this time in life is said to be so great it, more than anything else, determines individual and social welfare, meaning more should and must be done.<\/p>\n

Health policy programmes now include pregnancy as part of \u2018the early years\u2019 of a child\u2019s life and advise accordingly. More recently, parenting has been extended backwards further still, to the so-called \u2018preconception period\u2019, with women advised about health behaviours in order to be \u2018pregnancy ready\u2019. While advocates of attention to the earliest stages of life perceive an opportunity to improve the health and life chances of future generations, others see overreach in claims about the impact of parenting before children and emphasise overbearing control of women\u2019s reproductive lives. Not only pregnancy, but also pre-pregnancy has become more and more characterised by fear and health policing, it is argued.<\/p>\n

This event is an opportunity to discuss the issue raised. It is organised as a collaboration between researchers from the University of Kent working with the Centre for Parenting Culture Studies and bpas\u2019 CRRC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tuesday 24 May 2022 University of Kent, Canterbury Campus 12.30 to 6.30pm This was a joint event with the Centre for Reproductive Research and Communication (CRRC). You can listen to recordings from this event here Programme outline Welcome: Dr Patricia Lohr, Director of the Centre for Reproductive Research & Communication (CRRC) and Prof. Ellie Lee, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2496,"featured_media":0,"parent":608,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/parentingculturestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4141"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/parentingculturestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/parentingculturestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/parentingculturestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2496"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/parentingculturestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4141"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/parentingculturestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4367,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/parentingculturestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4141\/revisions\/4367"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/parentingculturestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/parentingculturestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}