Through the Looking-Glass: Reflections on the Role of Consumption in the Journey to Motherhood

Approximately four million women become mothers every year in the United States alone (CDC 2013). Motherhood is often seen as a life changing experience, and one that carries with it a great deal of significance for a woman’s identity and self-concept (Michaels and Goldberg 1988). Indeed, according to Michaels et al. (1982), the transition to parenthood is likely the most universally-occurring adult developmental transition, and one that has psychological, sociocultural, and biological implications. Women in particular experience profound psychological and biological changes, including noticeable appearance-related changes such as an increased body size and/or different body shape. As a result, a new mother is faced with having to forge a new, postpartum identity, and consumption often plays an important role in this process (Prothero 2002; Thomsen and Sorensen 2006). This study examines how new mothers use consumption to establish identity and the importance of consumption in conveying this identity to others.