Anamaries Garcia Marrero

Mothers body formation

ABSTRACT

The formation of our personal beliefs about body image are reflected upon the interactions we have encountered with family members, friends and strangers. My research examined mother’s formation of their body image to understand what social and cultural factors influence the perception of their body image. Based on examining the existing literature I expected breastfeeding, weight and bouncing back and mommy media to be factors that mattered most in terms of shaping a mothers body image because they are the most talked about topics pertaining to a mother's body. However after an in-depth interview with 10 mothers, mother’s perception of their body image was influenced by sources outside of their control such as media influence, family, friends, strangers. My article shows that mothers hear negative information, however they form a new understanding on how they personally should feel about their body, without listening to sources outside of themselves. It is important to understand mothers' perception of their body because we live in a world where impression management is part of our daily lives. Therefore it is important to understand what cultural and social factors influence mothers' personal perception of their body.