Article published In: Life Storytelling across Media and Contexts
Edited by Jarmila Mildorf and Zuzana Fonioková
[Narrative Inquiry 35:2] 2025
► pp. 261–294
From offline to online stigma resistance
Identity construction in narratives of infertile Muslim women
Published online: 22 November 2024
https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.23108.alh
https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.23108.alh
Abstract
This paper is the first to address the impact of gendered, cultural and religious discourses on an under-researched subaltern group of infertile Muslim women bloggers. Taking a small story and case study approach, the analysis focuses on interactivity and positioning (Bamberg, M., & Georgakopoulou, A. (2008). Small stories as a new perspective in narrative and identity analysis. Text & Talk, 28(3), 377–396. , (2008). Reflection and self-disclosure from the small stories perspective: A study of identity claims in interview and conversational data. Telling stories: Language, narrative, and social life, 123–134.) in one woman’s stories as she works hard to address normative expectations and dominant discourses which abound in Muslim societies. The paper highlights the stigmatisation and isolation women face, not only in the physical world, but sometimes in the online world too. We argue that Weblogs provide a unique and unexplored space where discourses of gender, sexual, and other identities are resisted and challenged. Simultaneously Weblogs can serve as both supportive and exclusionary sites in which bloggers’ rights and duties become regulated. The study opens a window into the world of infertile Muslim women and has important implications for relevant healthcare and policy making.
Keywords: gender, identity, infertility, Muslim women, narrative, online community, positioning, small stories, social media, Weblogs
Article outline
- Introduction
- Background: Review of the literature
- Infertility and Muslim women’s sexual identity
- Social media as an outlet for self-expression
- Identity and positioning in narrative research
- Methodology
- Data set
- Analysis
- Results
- Discussion
- Conclusion
- Notes
References
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