Late-in-life childbearing (Kōrei Shussan) in contemporary Japan

This paper draws on interviews with a group of 27 Japanese women who were classified as late-in-life-childbearing mothers, or kōrei shussan – women who had had their first delivery at 35 years of age or over. In making sense of the significance, symbolism and consequences of late-life motherhood, th...

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Main Author: Castro-Vázquez, Genaro
Other Authors: School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2015
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/93787
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/38396
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-937872020-03-07T12:10:39Z Late-in-life childbearing (Kōrei Shussan) in contemporary Japan Castro-Vázquez, Genaro School of Humanities and Social Sciences DRNTU::Social sciences::Sociology::Culture This paper draws on interviews with a group of 27 Japanese women who were classified as late-in-life-childbearing mothers, or kōrei shussan – women who had had their first delivery at 35 years of age or over. In making sense of the significance, symbolism and consequences of late-life motherhood, the paper utilises a symbolic interactionist perspective to shed light on the cultural, structural, interpersonal and intrapsychic dimensions underpinning the experiences of this group of mothers. The paper highlights the relevance of social interaction and everyday life that make pregnancy an ‘obligation’ for these women. Grounded in the Foucauldian notion of normalisation, the analysis suggests that the experience of late-in-life childbearing can be understood as the result of three forms of pressure: biological, homosocial and work. The late-in-life-childbearing mother largely stems from governmental economic neoliberalism imbued with traditional conservatism and the pervasive influence of the Assisted Reproduction Treatments industry. Accepted version 2015-07-29T01:48:03Z 2019-12-06T18:45:35Z 2015-07-29T01:48:03Z 2019-12-06T18:45:35Z 2015 2015 Journal Article Castro-Vázquez, G. (2015). Late-in-life childbearing (Kōrei Shussan) in contemporary Japan. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 17(10), 1221-1236. https://hdl.handle.net/10356/93787 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/38396 10.1080/13691058.2015.1048528 en Culture, health & sexuality © 2015 Taylor & Francis. This is the author created version of a work that has been peer reviewed and accepted for publication by Culture, Health & Sexuality, Taylor & Francis. It incorporates referee’s comments but changes resulting from the publishing process, such as copyediting, structural formatting, may not be reflected in this document. The published version is available at: [http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2015.1048528]. 16 p. application/pdf
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
country Singapore
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic DRNTU::Social sciences::Sociology::Culture
spellingShingle DRNTU::Social sciences::Sociology::Culture
Castro-Vázquez, Genaro
Late-in-life childbearing (Kōrei Shussan) in contemporary Japan
description This paper draws on interviews with a group of 27 Japanese women who were classified as late-in-life-childbearing mothers, or kōrei shussan – women who had had their first delivery at 35 years of age or over. In making sense of the significance, symbolism and consequences of late-life motherhood, the paper utilises a symbolic interactionist perspective to shed light on the cultural, structural, interpersonal and intrapsychic dimensions underpinning the experiences of this group of mothers. The paper highlights the relevance of social interaction and everyday life that make pregnancy an ‘obligation’ for these women. Grounded in the Foucauldian notion of normalisation, the analysis suggests that the experience of late-in-life childbearing can be understood as the result of three forms of pressure: biological, homosocial and work. The late-in-life-childbearing mother largely stems from governmental economic neoliberalism imbued with traditional conservatism and the pervasive influence of the Assisted Reproduction Treatments industry.
author2 School of Humanities and Social Sciences
author_facet School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Castro-Vázquez, Genaro
format Article
author Castro-Vázquez, Genaro
author_sort Castro-Vázquez, Genaro
title Late-in-life childbearing (Kōrei Shussan) in contemporary Japan
title_short Late-in-life childbearing (Kōrei Shussan) in contemporary Japan
title_full Late-in-life childbearing (Kōrei Shussan) in contemporary Japan
title_fullStr Late-in-life childbearing (Kōrei Shussan) in contemporary Japan
title_full_unstemmed Late-in-life childbearing (Kōrei Shussan) in contemporary Japan
title_sort late-in-life childbearing (kōrei shussan) in contemporary japan
publishDate 2015
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/93787
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/38396
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