"Tem que ser uma escolha da mulher"! representações de maternidade em mulheres não-mães por opção

Abstract

The concept of motherhood as an inevitable fate is being questioned in the contemporary, from the growing importance of women who choose not to live this experience and does not comply, thus, one of the social norms more strongly linked to the formation of feminine identity. This study sought to understand how they constitute the identities of female middle-class women, married or cohabiting with a partner, and have chosen not to have children, living in the countryside cities of Rio Grande do Sul. Therefore, we held a qualitative study from semistructured interviews that were evaluated using the technique of content analysis. The results suggest that women who choose not to live up to leave their identities from the denial of dominant cultural representations that claim motherhood as natural destination of every woman, andmaternal love as a feeling in the existence of women.