ABSTRACT
This section demonstrates that the body, communication, and stories (or narratives) are inextricably interrelated. In a research context that understands communication as mostly immaterial—a circulation of information, ideas, meanings—the human body and its physical dimension tend to be regarded as irrelevant. The argument here, however, not only shows that bodies matter in how we communicate and even what we say about who we are. It also makes the point that communication—in the form of publicly available narratives about what it means to be “happy,” “fulfilled,” “realized” in the specific case of involuntary childlessness—also affects our bodies, especially our well-being and health. The analysis explains how the suffering related to involuntary childlessness is, ultimately, rooted in a “narrative mismatch”: between what is regarded as a valued self according to standards defined by the “majority,” and what our body and daily practices “tell” us we are.
