ABSTRACT
The conversations with the mothers in the study who did not face an 'accidental' pregnancy confirmed the prevalence of the biomedical understanding, namely that becoming pregnant could happen fortuitously and depend on a number of biological factors. In approaching the intrapsychic dimension of reproduction and intimacy, it became clear that motherhoodism has impinged the interview's subjectivity, as they insisted that their pregnancies most likely were spurred by instincts that provoked their desire to have children. In Foucauldian terms, motherhood serves as an index of 'normalisation', serving to normalise the gendered and sexual self of Japanese women. Similar to the conversations with those mothers who experienced unplanned pregnancies, age was presented as a means for unveiling the symbolism attached to reproduction. Mother's insights are analysed along three main axes: biology, employment and homosociality. The idea of motherhoodism could be an element in the effort to grasp the disconnection between employment policies and daily life practices.
