Militarized Maternity

Megan D. McFarlane is Assistant Professor of Communication at Marymount University. Her books include The Rhetorical Invention of America's National Security State and Cultural Rhetorics of American Exceptionalism and the bin Laden Raid.

• Acknowledgments1. Examining the Pregnancy Continuum in the U.S. Military2. Contextualizing Military Maternity Experiences3. Hyperplanning Pregnancies4. Performing Macho Maternity5. Negotiating Postpartum Policies6. Redefining Military Maternity Appendix A Research Participants: DemographicsAppendix B Profiles: Enlisted ServicewomenAppendix C Profiles: Female OfficersNotesBibliographyIndex

"This book will be of interest to readers who examine gender and the military as well as issues related to gender and work, pregnancy discrimination, and masculinity and femininity more broadly. McFarlane also creates a useful conceptual framework that she labels the ‘continuum of maternity’ which understands maternity including pre-pregnancy and pregnancy planning phases, pregnancy, breastfeeding, and postpartum mothering. This framework not only shows how different maternity phases shape and constrain women’s lives and workplace experiences but also reveals the importance of policies and benefits at each stage and could easily be applied to other workplaces."