CPC seminar to explore new rules shaping pregnancy, pregnancy planning

The transformation of pregnancy into a time of expert-led 'training' for potential parents will be discussed and criticised at the final Changing Parenting Culture (CPC) seminar at the University of Kent's Canterbury campus 22-23 June.

The event will bring together academics and scholars from the UK and the US to explore the new ways pregnancy is being thought about and experienced at a time when parenthood has become the object of increasing attention and concern.

They will also explore the emergence of new, often contradictory, 'rules' shaping pregnancy and pregnancy planning by addressing questions such as: does a healthy baby require a stress-free pregnancy; should fathers be encouraged to become actively involved in guiding and shaping their partner's antenatal behaviour and choices; how does contemporary parenting culture impact on reproductive decision-making, in particular, abortion decisions; how does the new norm of 'intensive parenthood' shape the regulation of reproductive technology; and where has the advocacy of alcohol abstinence to pregnant women come from and what is its impact?

The seminar has been timed to coincide with the publication of a special issue of the journal Health, Risk and Society which will publish new research on the impact of the contemporary obsession with risks to children's health on parenting and wider society. New papers include one by Dr Jan Macvarish of the University of Kent on the significance of such 'risk thinking' in the contemporary concern with teenage motherhood.