Reproductive Agency and the Transgenerational Transmission of Trauma

Abstract

This article supports the development of reproductive agency as a means of intercepting the transgenerational transmission of trauma through maternal subjectivity. Reproductive agency includes, among other things, abortion as a viable choice. It is my view that reproductive agency is predicated on maternal subjectivity – that is, the individual selfhood that mothers possess. However, women’s capacity for agency around reproduction as well as maternal subjectivity have long been denied, even within psychoanalysis. Under patriarchy lies the institution and mandate of motherhood. The institution implicitly demands women be passive, yet burdens them with guilt for choices they are forbidden to make themselves. In contrast, the experience of mothering is highly personal and active, and psychoanalysis has the potential to make more space for maternal subjectivity, agency, consent, and mourning. In doing so, we can support women in reckoning with reproductive decisions after the fact, as well as affecting change in future generations and intercepting the transgenerational transmission of trauma before it occurs. Importantly, exercising maternal reproductive agency is seen as a relational function. Rather than addressing the needs of one in opposition to the needs of another, it is about making discerning decisions to impact a lineage of interconnected beings. This article is part of an ongoing attempt to write theory from outside patriarchy (Cixous & Clement, 1986/1975), specifically using the author’s personal voice, to help illustrate maternal subjectivity.

Keywords:

• abortion
• maternal subjectivity
• agency
• vaginal symbolic
• transgenerational transmission of trauma

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tracy Sidesinger

Tracy Sidesinger, PsyD, is a clinical psychologist bilocated between Brooklyn and upstate New York. She integrates Jungian and Relational approaches to address transgenerational aspects of the lost feminine with individuals and couples in private practice. Dr. Sidesinger has published articles and book chapters on feminist psychology and community psychoanalysis, including “The Feminine Yes: Return Me To Excess,” published in Studies in Gender and Sexuality, and “Psychoanalysis, Class Divisions, and the Gift Economy,” published in Division 39 Review. She has served as representative to the Mental Health Liaison Group for the Psychotherapy Action Network, and as a board member for both the Museum of Motherhood in Tampa, FL and the Jungian Association of Central Ohio in Columbus, OH.