Discursos culturais experienciados por mulheres no ciclo gravídico-puerperal: uma análise no seridó potiguar

Abstract

Cultural transmission about the gestational-puerperal cycle occurs through images, words, objects, glances, and territories that formulate discourses about these events in the lives of mothers. These women are deeply affected in their subjectivity, which can provoke maternal psychological suffering. Historically perpetuated narratives produce effects both on the subjective constitution of women and on the environments in which they are inserted, extending into health, culture, and politics. From psychological work with mothers in a hospital in the Seridó Potiguar region, concerns emerged regarding cultural discourses. This led to the question of how cultural narratives influence maternal psychological suffering in a region marked by traditional knowledge transmission about what it means to be a woman, passed among the women of these territories. The study aimed to analyze the effects of cultural discourses experienced by women during the gestational-puerperal cycle in Seridó Potiguar, identify the discourses about motherhood and pregnancy heard by primiparous women, understand their psychological impacts, and explore the meanings these women attribute to these discourses in their motherhood. An explanatory study with a qualitative approach was conducted with five cisgender primiparous women, using instruments such as a characterization form and semi-structured interviews. The data collected were analyzed using content analysis, allowing the creation of five categories: 1) comparison between birth methods; 2) bodies that gestate; 3) pregnancy as a life-defining event for women; 4) motherhood as a duality of satisfaction and suffering; 5) psychological effects. The first category indicates that, during the gestational-puerperal cycle, primiparous women are influenced by discourses idealizing birth methods, associating vaginal birth with pain, which often leads to a preference for cesarean sections. The second category addresses how cultural discourses frame pregnant women’s bodies, confining bodily changes to an image shaped by aesthetic standards and an idealized notion of childbirth, leading to questioning the ability to gestate and give birth. The third category explores how discourses depict pregnancy as a delicate balance between societal expectations regarding the "right" time to become a mother and the limitations this imposes on women's lives. The fourth category highlights the dual nature of the maternal experience, where the idealized concept of maternal instinct and eternal love contrasts with the discomfort and challenges of caregiving. The fifth category uncovers psychological effects of these cultural discourses, including insecurity, fear, frustration, and sadness. The study found that women are more vulnerable to the effects of these discourses early in their pregnancy. However, as pregnancy progresses, they undergo a process of elaboration and create unique strategies to cope.