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List of contents
Contents
Preface
- Section I: Introduction
- Woman-Defined Motherhood
- Section II: Mothers and Daughters
- I Was in Hawaii
- The Gold Taloned Mirrors
- I Hope I’m Not Like My Mother
- Daughters Discover Their Mothers Through Biographies and Genograms: Educational and Clinical Parallels
- Mourning the Myth of Motherhood: Reclaiming Our Mothers’ Legacies
- Section III: Mother-Blaming
- Making Mother-Blaming Invisible: The Emperor’s New Clothes
- Mother-Hatred and Mother-Blaming: What Electra Did to Clytemnestra
- Mother-Blaming and Clinical Theory
- Old Women as Mother Figures
- Section IV: Diversity
- Caught Between Two Worlds: The Impact of a Child on a Lesbian Couple’s Relationship
- The Myth of the Wicked Stepmother
- Feminist Considerations of Intercountry Adoptions
- No Accident: The Voices of Voluntarily Childless Women--An Essay on the Social Construction of Fertility Choices
- Establishing the First Stages of Early Reciprocal Interactions Between Mothers and Their Autistic Children
- Section V: Oppression
- Mothering the Biracial Child: Bridging the Gaps Between African-American and White Parenting Styles
- Lesbian Parents: Claiming Our Visibility
- Sarah and the Women’s Movement: The Experience of Infertility
- Sturdy Bridges: The Role of African-American Mothers in the Socialization of African-American Children
- Section VI: Research
- Motherhood and Sex-Role Development
About the author
Jane Price Knowles, Ellen Cole
Summary
Finally, here is an enlightening and empowering book that defines motherhood from a feminist perspective and then explores the implications of that definition. Feminist authors examine some of women’s full, rich, and varied thoughts and experiences about motherhood. In contrast to the too often accepted male notions of what constitutes a “good’mother or a “normal” family, this important book presents a comprehensive and balanced view of motherhood--as women have observed and experienced it. The major issues surrounding motherhood today are closely examined--the pervasive problem of mother-blaming and mother-hating and solutions to overcome it; ageism, sexism, and motherhood; relationships between mothers and daughters; relationships between stepmothers and stepchildren; motherhood and sex roles within the family; adoption; infertility; and childlessness. Special insight is also provided into the concerns of women who are mothers--lesbians, women of color, mothers of biracial children, and adoptive mothers of children from different cultures. Woman-Defined Motherhood is must reading for women, including both mothers and daughters, for therapists and other professionals supporting women, and for anyone interested in mothering.
