“I’m still your wife”: Exploring subjectivity and intimacy in the later postpartum period

PROBLEM: Disruptions to sexual health after childbirth are common. While physiological changes are well documented, there is less evidence examining the psychosocial dimensions of postpartum sexuality. BACKGROUND: Sexual identity is a key psychosocial component of sexual health that may shift postpartum. New mothers' sense of sexual self may change in response to demands and expectations of motherhood. Research suggests that dominant social discourses shape how individuals navigate sexual identity in early postpartum; however, little is known about how individuals make meaning of their sexual identity and intimacy in the later postpartum period, particularly in relation to these discourses. PURPOSE: To explore how individuals make meaning of sexual identity and sexual intimacy in the later postpartum period. METHODS: Eight postpartum individuals living in the Canadian province of British Columbia completed semi-structured interviews. Data was analysed using discourse analysis informed by feminist poststructuralism. FINDINGS: Participants described difficulty prioritizing sexual identity and intimacy amidst the work of parenting. They recognised dominant discourses framing motherhood as all-consuming and desexualised, and resisted these narratives by reshaping motherhood as something that may include sexuality. Participants also intentionally reframed sexual and emotional intimacy as valuable, and redefined intimacy with partners to better align with their current realities as parents. CONCLUSION: Individuals in the later postpartum period continue to experience shifts in subjective positioning as mothers and as sexual beings, as well as with intimacy. Their experiences are shaped, in part, by dominant social discourses about motherhood and sexuality, which they may negotiate and contest as they reconstruct meaning in this stage.