Still moving: body mapping parenthood and new verticality with UK-based academics

Parental care sustains social life, yet the activity it requires is not always recognised as movement or progress within neoliberal moral economies. Drawing on body maps and interviews with eight UK-based academics, most of whom were mothers, this article examines how ideals of productivity and self-direction shape experiences of parenthood. Whereas pre-parenthood maps tended to depict a whole figure in motion, maps of parenthood or pregnancy more often portrayed the figure as still or divided, contrasting with interview accounts of parenting as intensive, demanding and fulfilling. To interpret this tension, I engage Adriana Cavarero’s postural geometries and develop the concept of new verticality. While Cavarero’s distinction between uprightness and inclination helps explain the moral value attached to autonomy and self-command, I argue that neoliberalism has extended what is required of the upright subject. Autonomy alone is insufficient; individuals must demonstrate continued productivity and progress. New verticality describes this expectation and offers a way of understanding why participants could experience parental care as intensely active and fulfilling while questioning whether they were moving forward in socially recognised ways.