What makes birth a rite of passage

The consumer behavior literature has only recently begun to attend to the gendered nature of many consumer behaviors e. Belk and Coon , Bristor and Fischer , Firat , Firat and Lewis , Fischer and Arnold ; Fischer and Bristor ; Heisley ; Hirschman ; Venkatesh and to the unique forms of consumption associated with women e.

Benson ; Fischer and Gainer ; Gainer and Fischer At the same time, our field has devoted increasing attention to rites of passage as personal and social experiences which are partially constructed through the use of material objects and therefore offer unique opportunities for research into and understanding of the culture of consumption in which we live e.

Schouten l This paper focuses on baby showers as a form of consumption that has largely been a uniquely female domain and that appears to have served - and to continue to serve - as a rite of passage for women. Van Gennep's l conceptualization of the rites of passage that accompany major role transitions as individuals move from birth to death remains the standard interpretation in the field.

He argued that rites of passage consist of three stages: 1 separation, in which an individual may be physically "removed" from his or her old life, but which at least carries the notion of disengagement from a former role within a society, 2 transition, a liminal state, in which one passes from one role or state into another one, and 3 reintegration, in which an individual is reunited into an existing group or integrated into a new group, and which is accompanied by the establishment of a new social role or position.

Although Van Gennep's work was based on an examination of many societies which were radically different from contemporary European or North American societies, he argued that the same components characterize the rites of passage that accompany major role transitions across societies.

Turner , , however, observed that in contemporary societies, individuals dealing with the ambiguities of the liminal state in many role transitions have few supportive rites. The rites of passage associated with childbirth would appear to be among those most robust in the face of modern trends toward social isolation. Baby showers are arguably among these rites of passage associated with childbirth. Parties held in honour of women who are about to become mothers accompany one of the major role transitions that most women undergo during their lives.

As we began our study with an examination of Van Gennep's conceptualization of rites of passage, we encountered some difficulty in mapping it onto the present-day North American baby shower. If applied literally, the model appears to fit rather badly. The three phases of separation, transition and reintegration cannot be mapped even imperfectly onto the ritual behaviors that occur during a baby shower.

For example, although baby showers are usually held near the end of a pregnancy when women could possibly retreat from society, in contemporary North American society they rarely do so and thus the separation phase is rarely observed. When it does occur, it is rarely coterminous with a baby shower. Even in a figurative sense, modern North American women rarely leave their old roles behind when they have a baby; instead they seem to add a new role to those they are already fulfilling.

The liminal state characteristic of the transitional phase could aptly describe the whole ninth months of pregnancy; baby showers may, at most, contribute in a limited sense to this particular phase of the rite of passage which marks the acquisition of the new role of motherhood. Of course, physical transition to motherhood does not occur during showers at least not if the mother can avoid it , but it may be that baby showers provide a concrete opportunity for the formulation of "possible selves" which are said to characterize the transition phase of a rite of passage Markus and Nurius l; Schouten l At a baby shower a mother-to-be is provided both with a community of other mothers and potential mothers, and with objects she will use to fulfil her new role.

Thus it seems possible that baby showers contribute to the transitional phase of a classic rite of passage by providing an opportunity for a woman to "try out" both the new equipment she will need to care for her baby, as well as to "try out" her role as a mother.

By playing this albeit limited part in the transitional phase of the rite, baby showers seem to contribute to the eventual reintegration of the new and old selves. Full reintegration, however, occurs only after the baby's birth. Our study was undertaken with the objects of exploring some a priori themes we identified as being characteristic of baby showers, and of discerning and analyzing new themes which we anticipated would emerge from the research.

We chose to use methods which would allow us to capture the complexities of our informants' thoughts and behaviors, as well as the rich details of the social context in which those occurred. Thus our study was based on participant observation in eight baby showers to which we were invited or which were held for us over the past three years. Additionally, we undertook extensive interviews with five recent recipients of baby showers. Our informants were recruited using our personal networks. We attempted to include women who possessed a range of professional, socio-economic and ideological characteristics.

We used a semi-structured interview format based on a standard list of questions we developed. The interview protocol served to prompt general conversations on the subject of baby showers with our informants, and provided "probes" to elicit more specific information on the themes we had identified and which began to emerge during the interview process. In order to test our emerging analysis as we proceeded, we supplemented the information provided by our own observations and by our main informants with short discussions with many more women who had attended baby showers or been the recipient of them.

Before we began our research, we identified three a priori themes which we expected to observe in our study of baby showers. All three themes relate to the purposes which the showers serve. Recent studies of gift giving rituals e. Cheal ; Fischer and Arnold indicate that part of the social function that they serve is to create and reinforce the personal relationships which form the bonds of community in which we live.

Given that traditional baby showers are exclusively female, we expected they would, like other forms of collective female rituals such as Tupperware parties, foster bonds of sorority in particular Gainer and Fischer l This loss of autonomy is particularly pronounced in the case of the birth of a first child. We theorized that this loss of personal autonomy is accompanied by an increased dependence on family and friends, particularly other mothers, who are represented by the guests attending the traditional baby shower.

The need for external support as one becomes a mother is not only moral, but financial, as exemplified through the giving of the necessary equipment for raising a child at a shower. At the same time as a woman loses some of her independence by becoming a mother and perhaps partially as a result of loss of independence we expected that - in the eyes of others - she would experience a recovery of innocence.

The cultural icon of a mother is of a woman who is devoted, loyal and above all, pure. Despite the fact that the act which creates a child is sexual, the production of a child leads the mother into a role associated with purity and even virginity. This notion was fully supported by the centrality of child-like rituals at traditional showers. A third theme which we expected to find characterized traditional baby showers was the passing on of knowledge deemed essential for the tasks of mothering.

We expected that we would find that much conversation centred on advice to the mother-to-be, as well as on the exchange of information about children among the guests. Source: International Journal of Childbirth Education. Jan, Vol. Author s : Jacinto, George A.

Abstract: Pregnancy is a significant and transformative life event, resulting in growth on several levels for the mother. More Why do so many American women allow themselves to become enmeshed in the standardized routines of technocratic childbirth—routines that can be insensitive, unnecessary, and even unhealthy?

Authors Affiliations are at time of print publication. Robbie Davis-Floyd, author More Less. Your current browser may not support copying via this button. Show Summary Details. Subscriber Login Email Address. Password Please enter your Password. Library Card Please enter your library card number. Contents Go to page:.

View: no detail some detail full detail. There was no maternity wear, so middle-class women typically altered their existing wardrobes or covered themselves using long shawls. Few garments with widened waistlines remain, because it was more economical to return a garment back to its original size. An informal wrap dress from Lindsay, Ontario, however, with its loose-fitting waist, suggests that the informal dresses worn by the lady of the house in the morning also could have been worn at home during pregnancy.

When women experienced the loss of loved ones, they often mourned by dressing in black dresses, usually made or decorated with crape fabric that was devoid of lustre or frivolity, following the example set by Queen Victoria after the death of her husband, Prince Albert, in Hair jewellery , as seen in Sir John A. Nicholas Sparks after her husband passed away in , and his hair is woven around it.

The medieval origins of the hair jewellery tradition lie in its use for mourning.