Download or read book Myths of Motherhood written by Sherry Thurer and published by Penguin. This book was released on 1995-05-01 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This groundbreaking and irreverent history of motherhood is worth a hundred advice books for any mother who’s ever been made to feel guilty or frazzled by society’s impossible expectations. Analyzing data from the psychoanalyst’s couch to the hidden history of wet nursing, psychologist Shari L. Thurer wends her way from the Stone Age to the age of Hillary Rodham Clinton, painting a vivid, often frightening picture of life for mothers and children in a time when their roles were constructed by men. Along the way, she debunks myth after myth—exposing the not-so-golden ages of Classical Greece and the Italian Renaissance, and revealing the pervasive ideal of Dr. Spock’s selfless, stay-at-home mother as the historical aberration it actually was. A work of impassioned scholarship and astonishing range, The Myths of Motherhood does nothing less than recast our conception of good mothering.

Download or read book The Mask of Motherhood written by Susan Maushart and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2000-05-01 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Becoming a mother is filled with the extremes of emotion --the highest highs and the lowest lows. But women are often reluctant to talk honestly about the experience for fear they'll be seen as bad mothers. With wit and candor, The Mask of Motherhood takes on the myths and the misinformation, helping women to prepare and deal with the depth of feeling that comes with the experience and perhaps most important, it lets them know that many, if not most, new mothers are feeling the same way.Susan Maushart, sociologist and mother of three, explores how motherhood affects our marriages and friendships, our relationships with parents, our sex lives, and our self-esteem. In The Mask of Motherhood, mothers will find the comfort and reassurance they are looking for, and confirmation that, indeed, motherhood is the toughest job in the world, but can also be the most rewarding.

Download or read book The Mommy Myth written by Susan Douglas and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2005-02-08 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now in paperback, the provocative book that has ignited fiery debate and created a dialogue among women about the state of motherhood today. In THE MOMMY MYTH, Susan Douglas and Meredith Michaels turn their 'sharp, funny, and fed-up prose' (San Diego Union Tribune) toward the cult of the new momism, a trend in Western culture that suggests that women can only achieve contentment through the perfection of mothering. Even so, the standards of this ideal remain out of reach, no matter how hard women try to 'have it all'. THE MOMMY MYTH skilfully maps the distance travelled from the days when THE FEMININE MYSTIQUE demanded more for women than keeping house and raising children, to today's not-so-subtle pressure to reverse this trend. A must-read for every woman.

Download or read book Modern Motherhood written by Jodi Vandenberg-Daves and published by Rutgers University Press. This book was released on 2014-05-26 with total page 414 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How did mothers transform from parents of secondary importance in the colonies to having their multiple and complex roles connected to the well-being of the nation? In the first comprehensive history of motherhood in the United States, Jodi Vandenberg-Daves explores how tensions over the maternal role have been part and parcel of the development of American society. Modern Motherhood travels through redefinitions of motherhood over time, as mothers encountered a growing cadre of medical and psychological experts, increased their labor force participation, gained the right to vote, agitated for more resources to perform their maternal duties, and demonstrated their vast resourcefulness in providing for and nurturing their families. Navigating rigid gender role prescriptions and a crescendo of mother-blame by the middle of the twentieth century, mothers continued to innovate new ways to combine labor force participation and domestic responsibilities. By the 1960s, they were poised to challenge male expertise, in areas ranging from welfare and abortion rights to childbirth practices and the confinement of women to maternal roles. In the twenty-first century, Americans continue to struggle with maternal contradictions, as we pit an idealized role for mothers in children’s development against the social and economic realities of privatized caregiving, a paltry public policy structure, and mothers’ extensive employment outside the home. Building on decades of scholarship and spanning a wide range of topics, Vandenberg-Daves tells an inclusive tale of African American, Native American, Asian American, working class, rural, and other hitherto ignored families, exploring sources ranging from sermons, medical advice, diaries and letters to the speeches of impassioned maternal activists. Chapter topics include: inventing a new role for mothers; contradictions of moral motherhood; medicalizing the maternal body; science, expertise, and advice to mothers; uplifting and controlling mothers; modern reproduction; mothers’ resilience and adaptation; the middle-class wife and mother; mother power and mother angst; and mothers’ changing lives and continuous caregiving. While the discussion has been part of all eras of American history, the discussion of the meaning of modern motherhood is far from over.

Download or read book Twenty first Century Motherhood written by Andrea O'Reilly and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2010-09-28 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Andrea O'Reilly's coverage is comprehensive. Her book reflects current trends in the field, particularly the examination of reproductive technologies and the Internet and their implications for motherhood and mothering."---Heather Hewett, State University of New York, New Paltz, writer and editor of the Global Mama column for Girl with Pen (www.girlwpen.com) --

Download or read book The Momologues written by Lisa Rafferty and published by Samuel French, Inc.. This book was released on 2010 with total page 55 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This original comedy about motherhood rips away the gauzy mask of parenthood to reveal what all mothers know but don't always talk about: it's overwhelming and exhausting, but also very, very funny." --from cover.

Download or read book Motherhood Out Loud written by Leslie Ayvazian and published by Dramatists Play Service Inc. This book was released on 2012 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE STORY: When entrusting the subject of motherhood to such a dazzling collection of celebrated American writers, what results is a joyous, moving, hilarious, and altogether thrilling theatrical event. Utterly unpredictable, MOTHERHOOD OUT LOUD sh

Download or read book Mom written by Rebecca Jo Plant and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2010-03-15 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the early twentieth century, Americans often waxed lyrical about “Mother Love,” signaling a conception of motherhood as an all-encompassing identity, rooted in self-sacrifice and infused with social and political meaning. By the 1940s, the idealization of motherhood had waned, and the nation’s mothers found themselves blamed for a host of societal and psychological ills. In Mom, Rebecca Jo Plant traces this important shift by exploring the evolution of maternalist politics, changing perceptions of the mother-child bond, and the rise of new approaches to childbirth pain and suffering. Plant argues that the assault on sentimental motherhood came from numerous quarters. Male critics who railed against female moral authority, psychological experts who hoped to expand their influence, and women who strove to be more than wives and mothers—all for their own distinct reasons—sought to discredit the longstanding maternal ideal. By showing how motherhood ultimately came to be redefined as a more private and partial component of female identity, Plant illuminates a major reorientation in American civic, social, and familial life that still reverberates today.

Download or read book The Good Mother Myth written by Avital Norman Nathman and published by Seal Press. This book was released on 2013-12-31 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In an era of mommy blogs, Pinterest, and Facebook, The Good Mother Myth dismantles the social media–fed notion of what it means to be a “good mother.” This collection of essays takes a realistic look at motherhood and provides a platform for real voices and raw stories, each adding to the narrative of motherhood we don’t tend to see in the headlines or on the news. From tales of mind-bending, panic-inducing overwhelm to a reflection on using weed instead of wine to deal with the terrible twos, the honesty of the essays creates a community of mothers who refuse to feel like they’re in competition with others, or with the notion of the ideal mom—they’re just trying to find a way to make it work. With a foreword by Christy Turlington Burns and a contributor list that includes Jessica Valenti, Sharon Lerner, Soraya Chemaly, Amber Dusick, and many more, this remarkable collection seeks to debunk the myth and offer honest perspectives on what it means to be a mother.

Download or read book Mothers and Children written by Susan E. Chase and published by Rutgers University Press. This book was released on 2001 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Motherhood is a highly personal array of experiences with a uniquely public dimension, preoccupying policymakers, advice givers, health care providers, religious leaders, child care workers, educators, and total strangers who feel entitled to judge mothers they see with their children in the neighborhood or on the TV news. Chase (U. of Tulsa) and Rogers (U. of West Florida) approach motherhood and mothering as feminist sociologists, focusing on questions such as how ideas about motherhood are shaped by social and historical conditions, how ideas about motherhood change over time and across social contexts, who has the power to make their definitions of motherhood stick, and what diverse groups of mothers themselves think. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR

Download or read book American Motherhood written by and published by . This book was released on 1906 with total page 940 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Motherhood and Feminism written by Amber E. Kinser and published by Seal Press. This book was released on 2010-05-04 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How does feminism relate to motherhood, how has it changed over time, and what does the future of motherhood and feminism look like? These are just some of the questions Amber E. Kinser, PhD, tackles in Motherhood and Feminism. The latest in the Seal Studies series, Motherhood and Feminism is an important title, examining the role of feminism within motherhood. The topic has garnered a lot of attention lately, as society shifts to adapt to new definitions of these roles. Kinser has made a career of speaking, teaching, and writing about motherhood and feminism--weaving her own experience as a mother together with the knowledge and critique she has garnered through her studies. She offers insight on the core questions of motherhood: what it means to be a good mother, the role of mothers in the family and in society, and how motherhood has been redefined throughout time. Kinser examines how the changing world of motherhood fits into feminist activism, and speculates on the future directions of these identities.

Download or read book Forget Having It All written by Amy Westervelt and published by Seal Press. This book was released on 2018-11-13 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A clear-eyed look at the history of American ideas about motherhood, how those ideas have impacted all women (whether they have kids or not), and how to fix the inequality that exists as a result. After filing a story only two hours after giving birth, and then getting straight back to full-time work the next morning, journalist Amy Westervelt had a revelation: America might claim to revere motherhood, but it treats women who have children like crap. From inadequate maternity leave to gender-based double standards, emotional labor to the "motherhood penalty" wage gap, racist devaluing of some mothers and overvaluing of others, and our tendency to consider women's value only in terms of their reproductive capacity, Westervelt became determined to understand how we got here and how the promise of "having it all" ever even became a thing when it was so far from reality for American women. In Forget "Having It All," Westervelt traces the roots of our modern expectations of mothers and motherhood back to extremist ideas held by the first Puritans who attempted to colonize America and examines how those ideals shifted--or didn't--through every generation since. Using this historical backdrop, Westervelt draws out what we should replicate from our past (bringing back home economics, for example, this time with an emphasis on gender-balanced labor in the home), and what we must begin anew as we overhaul American motherhood (including taking a more intersectional view of motherhood, thinking deeply about the ways in which capitalism influences our views on reproduction, and incorporating working fathers into discussions about work-life balance). In looking for inspiration elsewhere in the world, Westervelt turned not to Scandinavia, where every work-life balance story inevitably ends up, but to Japan where politicians, in an increasingly desperate effort to increase the country's birth rates (sound familiar?), tried to apply Scandinavian-style policies atop a capitalist democracy not unlike America's, only to find that policy can't do much in the absence of cultural shift. Ultimately, Westervelt presents a measured, historically rooted and research-backed call for workplace policies, cultural norms, and personal attitudes about motherhood that will radically improve the lives of not just working moms but all Americans.

Download or read book The Neutered Mother the Sexual Family and Other Twentieth Century Tragedies written by Martha Fineman and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 1995 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First Published in 1995. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Download or read book Mother Reader written by Moyra Davey and published by Seven Stories Press. This book was released on 2001-05-01 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The intersection of motherhood and creative life is explored in these writings on mothering that turn the spotlight from the child to the mother herself. Here, in memoirs, testimonials, diaries, essays, and fiction, mothers describe first-hand the changes brought to their lives by pregnancy, childbirth, and mothering. Many of the writers articulate difficult and socially unsanctioned maternal anger and ambivalence. In Mother Reader, motherhood is scrutinized for all its painful and illuminating subtleties, and addressed with unconventional wisdom and candor. What emerges is a sense of a community of writers speaking to and about each other out of a common experience, and a compilation of extraordinary literature never before assembled in a single volume.

Download or read book Mediated Maternity written by Linda Seidel and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2013-05-09 with total page 147 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mediated Maternity: Contemporary American Portrayals of Bad Mothers in Literature and Popular Culture, by Linda Seidel, explores the cultural construction of the bad mother in books, movies, and TV shows, arguing that these portrayals typically have the effect of cementing dominant assumptions about motherhood in place—or, less often, of disrupting those assumptions, causing us to ask whether motherhood could be constructed differently. Portrayals of bad mothers not only help to establish what the good mother is by depicting her opposite, but also serve to illustrate what the culture fears about women in general and mothers in particular. From the ancient horror of female power symbolized by Medea (or, more recently, by Casey Anthony) to the current worry that drug-addicted pregnant women are harming their fetuses, we see a social desire to monitor the reproductive capabilities of women, resulting in more (formal and informal) surveillance than in material (or even moral) support.

Download or read book Representations of Motherhood written by Donna Bassin and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For many years mothers have been viewed in terms of their impact on children rather than as people with needs, feelings, and interests subjects in their own right. This book explores the maternal experience from the mother's point of view. It questions a society that has devalued and sentimentalized motherhood, presents images of generative and creative women who are also mothers, discusses the complex psychological experience of having and being a mother, and examines how representations of mothers in art, film, literature, the social and behavioral sciences, and historical writing have affected women. -- Amazon.com.