Mommy blogging: Understanding athlete-mother identities in a running community using discursive psychological analysis

Physical activity participation has been shown to decrease for mothers as they negotiate good mother ideals and gender ideologies that hold women primarily responsible for care giving at the expense of prioritizing exercise (Currie, 2004; McGannon & Schinke, 2013; Miller & Brown, 2005). Despite the social and cultural barriers to physical activity participation, physical activity and sport pursuits are encouraged for mothers, as such pursuits afford them the opportunity to resist gender ideologies in relation to motherhood that constrain physical activity, and enhance psychological wellbeing (Appleby & Fisher, 2009; Spowart, Burrows & Shaw, 2010; Spowart, Hughson & Shaw, 2008). Women may also negotiate discourses circulated by the media (e.g., medical discourse, individual responsibility/healthism) pertaining to athletics, fitness and motherhood, which may facilitate and/or constrain exercise and sport participation and identity expression (Dworkin & Wachs, 2004; Hodler & Lucas-Carr, in press; Jette, 2006; McGannon, Curtin, Schinke & Schweinbenz, 2012; McGannon, Gonsalves, Schinke & Busanich, 2015).