Dr Jackie Turton & Emma Milne

1. +
The ambiguity of
motherhood: the stories
women cannot tell
Dr Jackie Turton & Emma Milne

2. +
Introduction
Two qualitative studies
 (i) Female perpetrators of child sexual abuse
 (ii) Maternal filicide of infants
 Comparative analysis
 Case studies

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The myth of motherhood
 ‘Ideal’ and ‘Good enough’
 normalised” motherhood (Peter 2009)
 Social structures of ‘bad’ mothers (Smart 1995; Wilczynski 1995)
 Social structures and the mothering role
 The media
 The family
 The law
 Ambiguous feelings
 Love-hate relationship between mother & child (Turton 2008; Motz
2001)

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Unspeakable stories
Lack of discursive space
 Telling sexual stories
 Ready to listen and hear (Plummer 1995)
Spoiled identities
 Social stigma (Goffman 1963; Croghan & Miell 1998)
Stock stories
 Rationalisation, vocabularies of motive & social scripts (Gerth & Mills
1954; Morissey 2003)
 Cultural toolkits (Swidler 2001)

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Rationalising behaviours (i)

Professional denial (Denov, 2004; Turton, 2008)
 Atypical abuse (Kemshall, 2003; Munro, 1999)
 Offender response
 Case studies: Brenda & Janet
 Shame and guilt – reclaiming social identity
 Denial of sexual interest in children – claim of ‘normal’ societal
membership

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Rationalising behaviours (ii)
 Professional explaining: rationalise the act
 Othering – Mad / Bad (Morris and Wilczynski, 1993)
 Explain away (O’Donovan, 1984; Wheelwright, 2002)
 Actions of the offenders
 Case studies:
 Emily – convicted of infanticide (mad)
 Claire – convicted of murder (bad)

7. +
Finding a voice
Violent mothers
 Gendered crime – the challenge of female offenders
 Unpacking the myths – exposing the social structures
 Recognising the stock narratives
 What does this mean for practice?
 Helping professionals who safeguard children to look beyond the
myth
 Provide a safe space for women to share their ambitious feelings
and so access support.