A.V.  Belova

MOTHERHOOD IN AFTER MARRIAGE PERIOD: REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOR OF RUSSIAN NOBLEWOMEN

Authors

A.V. Belova

Keywords:

MOTHERHOOD, REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOR, REPRODUCTIVE CULTURE, AFTER MARRIAGE PERIOD, HISTORY OF EVERYDAY LIFE, WOMEN'S EVERYDAY, WOMEN''S HISTORY, GENDER, RUSSIAN NOBLEWOMEN

Abstract

The article is an analysis of the unexplored problem of the motherhood in after marriage period as a deliberate strategy of reproductive behavior and of the everyday life of Russian noblewomen in the 18th – the middle of the 19th century. Basing on archival materials, unpublished and published sources of personal origin, publicistic and literary texts are analyzed the motives and perspectives of conscious refusal of re-marriage in the absence of contraception. Special attention is paid to the issue of the rejection of reproduction, the performance of maternal duties with respect to children from the first marriage and the traditional value orientations of noblewomen. Methodological approaches of the history of everyday life and gender history have allowed to rethink the influence of collective moral attitudes on the individual value system of the Russian noblewomen and implementation of its own method of birth control, which did not cause public condemnation. The author arrives at a conclusion that the avoidance of re-marriage and sexual intercourse was replaced by maternal, economic and religious priorities.

MOTHERHOOD IN AFTER MARRIAGE PERIOD: REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOR OF RUSSIAN NOBLEWOMEN