Browsing by Subject "eco-reproductive"

Climate change is increasingly influencing young people’s reproductive decisions, and more and more people are hesitant to have children due to climate change and climate anxiety. In contrast, the hegemonic reproduction discourse in the West, pronatalism, portrays having children as universally desirable and fulfilling and stigmatises childfreedom. Consequently, childfreedom is inherently situated in resistance to pronatalism and it is examined here as a counter-discourse. This study aims to contribute to research about the interconnection of reproduction and the climate crisis from a critical discourse analytic perspective, as linguistically oriented studies are currently lacking in what is already an under-researched field. This study examines how a childfree subreddit is challenging the hegemonic pronatalist reproductive discourses from the perspective of the climate crisis and environmentalism. The question is answered by examining (1) the main themes in the discourse and (2) the linguistic resources that are utilised. The material is collected from a subreddit r/childfree, a discursive space where pronatalist ideology is contested and consists of 11 threads where the interconnection of reproduction and climate change are discussed. An online environment was chosen because they can enable solidarity, offer respite from hegemonic ideologies and discourses, legitimize and normalize alternative discourses and even formulate strategies of resistance. I conducted a critical discourse analytic study using content analysis as a method. Critical discourse analysis was chosen because it enables one to examine how discourse structures reproduce or challenge relations of power. Content analysis, on the other hand, is a systematic and transparent way to classify text into categories. The results not only showed that the people who post on the subreddit use the climate crisis strategically and deliberately to counter pronatalism, but also that they deploy linguistic resources creatively and playfully in the interests of their own ideologies. The posts demonstrate awareness of pronatalist discourse and behaviour, which are often collectively analysed. Interestingly, both childfree and pronatalist discourses use climate change rhetoric to accommodate to the changing cultural context, and the constant negotiation between the discourses is evident in the data. On the one hand, climate change is used to create a reflective, selfless, and morally superior childfree subject. On the other hand, it is employed to portray all “breeders” not only as irresponsible, selfish, hypocritical, susceptible to external pressure, but also as in denial of climate change. “Breeders’” naivety and denial are contrasted with the seriousness of the climate crisis. Although children are mainly portrayed in a negative light, some posts use child-centred rhetoric to justify why having children is immoral in the age of climate change, thus challenging pronatalism. Regardless of how the topic is framed, the different categories identified in this study all work to deconstruct the parenthood mandate.