Liminal Embodiment and the Changing Parental Body

This dissertation sits at the intersection of sociology of the body, parenting, and life course to examine how the role and status of becoming a parent shape individuals' embodiment. Grounded in research highlighting body and embodiment as crucial, yet understudied aspects of social experiences, my study views biological changes as rooted in the social, where symbolic messages shape how parents think and understand their bodies and embodiment. The transition to parenthood serves as a unique lens for analyzing embodiment, as pregnancy, barriers to assisted reproductive technology, and adoption serve as evidence for the intersection of physical and social changes. My study, therefore, aims to fill gaps in existing literature by providing insights into how parents contest, challenge, or accommodate societal messages about their bodies throughout the process of becoming and being a parent. Between May 2021 and June 2022, I conducted 40 interviews with parents who have diverse families, including biological and adopted children. In these interviews, participants recounted their embodied experiences before, during, and after becoming a parent. The results show how embodiment is important to diverse lived experiences and social pathways, over the transition to parenthood. The diverse pathways in the transition to parenthood shed light on varied experiences and hierarchies within social transitions, offering an alternative framing of a universal experience of body size and weight-related stigma. Drawing across these results, I introduce liminal embodiment, which merges life course perspectives with the study of body and embodiment. The concept asserts that bodies are constantly in transition, with embodied experiences influencing social pathways during significant life events, like parenthood. Further, liminal embodiment is multidimensional; the transitional nature of the body extends beyond appearance to include performance expectations, particularly in the context of parenthood. These conclusions provide implications for understanding how changes in body size and shape throughout the life course are context-dependent, influenced by social transitions and normative and non-normative pathways. Overall, my project emphasizes the inevitability of bodily changes throughout the life course and advocates for a shift in practices to better support individuals through major life transitions.