You Are on Your Own: Psychoanalytic Reflections on Motherhood in Brazil

Abstract This article is a theoretical essay aimed at critical thinking about parenthood from the perspective of Brazilian working women in the exercise of motherhood. To this end, the paradigm of psychoanalysis was used to problematize the socio-political dimension encountered by women in Brazil and the influence of neoliberal discursive devices and their effects on the psyche. The conclusion is that, under the rule of enjoyment in contemporary culture, Brazilian women are on their own in their quest to live up to the ideal of contemporary women as dedicated mothers and successful professionals, inevitably leading them to exploit their reproductive work