Breasts as Materialities in Life Transitions: Negotiating Age, Identity, and Embodiment in Mastectomy Experiences

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  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 17: Bodies, Embodiment, and Reproductive Politics

Abstract

Abstract
This study examines how breasts, as material and symbolic entities, shape life transitions, identity, and embodiment in the context of mastectomy experiences in Punjab, Pakistan. Breasts are central to gender identity, self-perception, and social belonging, and their removal disrupts bodily materiality while challenging sociocultural meanings of femininity, health, and aging. Breast cancer, a leading cause of mortality among women in Pakistan, illustrates the entanglement of biomedical, social, and psychological factors in shaping life transitions. With late-stage diagnoses, limited awareness, and sociocultural stigma, mastectomy remains the most common surgical intervention, yet adoption of immediate breast reconstruction is exceptionally low due to financial, cultural, and informational barriers.

Using a qualitative phenomenological approach, the study draws on in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with women across early adulthood and older age groups. The findings reveal four major themes: (a) embodied disruptions and identity struggles, (b) aging and breast materiality, (c) prostheses, scars, and cultural stigma, and (d) lack of social and psychological support. Younger women reported challenges in romantic relationships and societal expectations, often concealing bodily changes from potential spouses. Older women framed mastectomy within broader narratives of aging, resilience, and life course transitions. Surgical scars and prostheses were interpreted variably as “wounds of survival,” tools of reintegration, or markers of loss, reflecting complex emotional and social negotiations.

The study highlights that mastectomy is a profound embodied transition, reshaping selfhood, social identity, and bodily materiality. By centering the material-discursive aspects of post-mastectomy experiences, this research contributes to medical sociology by illustrating how body, identity, and sociocultural expectations intersect in shaping lived experiences of illness and recovery. The findings underscore the urgent need for patient-centered psychosocial interventions, increased awareness, and culturally sensitive medical support to facilitate holistic care for women navigating this transition.

Keywords: Mastectomy, Body image, Identity, Embodiment, Life course, Pakistan, Medical sociology, Femininity, Materiality

Author

• Tauheed Zahra, Goethe University Frankfurt