ABSTRACT

In 2017, Finnish celebrity Sini Ariell published a blog post titled “F*** this shit” in which she revealed her difficult feelings as a mother of a newborn baby. Attracting attention from Finnish media, the post went viral. Through the empirical analysis of affective reactions to the post on an anonymous online discussion board, we explore how the limits of the public expression of negative maternal feelings are negotiated and maintained, but also challenged. Our results highlight the normative, even punitive dynamics of the digital intimate public, as commenters on the discussion board often argued that struggles and unhappiness during motherhood should not be made public but dealt with in private. However, ambivalences and supportive comments suggested the possibility to challenge norms surrounding motherhood and widen the discussion of difficulties and inequalities in motherhood and family life. Based on our analysis, we argue that affective articulations of anger, anxiety and exhaustion may challenge the digital intimate public’s “infrastructure of happiness”, and they thus have political potential to disrupt the ideals of good motherhood and address the affective struggles that mothering often entails.

摘要

2017 年，芬兰名人 Sini Ariell 发表了一篇名为“F *** this shit”的博客文章，其中她透露了她作为一名新生儿母亲的艰难感受。这条帖子引起了芬兰媒体的关注，在网上疯传。通过对匿名在线讨论板上帖子的情感反应的实证分析，我们探讨了如何协商和维护负面母性情绪的公开表达的局限性，同时也受到挑战。我们的结果突出了数字亲密公众的规范性，甚至是惩罚性动态，因为讨论板上的评论者经常争辩说，母亲期间的挣扎和不快乐不应公开，而应私下处理。然而，矛盾和支持性评论表明有可能挑战围绕母性的规范，并扩大对母性和家庭生活中的困难和不平等的讨论。根据我们的分析，我们认为愤怒、焦虑和疲惫的情感表达可能会挑战数字亲密公众的“幸福基础设施”，因此它们具有破坏良好母性理想和解决母性经常带来的情感斗争的政治潜力.