- Hardcover: 352 pages
- Publisher: The Free Press (19 April 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0743259998
- ISBN-13: 978-0743259996
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 15.5 x 3.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 48,977 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Mommy Myth
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Review
"Publishers Weekly"
In the idealized myth, mothers and babies spend their days discovering the wonders of life, reading, playing, and laughing. Mom wears her baby in a sling, never raises her voice, and of course has unlimited time and patience. Baby grows up safe, happy, and respectful.
In real life, however, it's a different story. Douglas and Michaels blow the lid off...
Product Description
Susan Douglas first took on the media's misrepresentation of women in her funny, scathing social commentary "Where the Girls Are." Now, she and Meredith Michaels, have turned a sardonic (but never jaundiced) eye toward the cult of the new momism: a trend in American culture that is causing women to feel that only through the perfection of motherhood can true contentment be found. This vision of motherhood is highly romanticized and yet its standards for success remain forever out of reach, no matter how hard women may try to "have it all."
"The Mommy Myth" takes a provocative tour through the past thirty years of media images about mothers: the superficial achievements of the celebrity mom, the news media's sensational coverage of dangerous day care, the staging of the "mommy wars" between working mothers and stay-at-home moms, and the onslaught of values-based marketing that raises mothering standards to impossible levels, just to name a few. In concert with this messaging, the authors contend, is a conservative backwater of talking heads propagating the myth of the modern mom.
This nimble assessment of how motherhood has been shaped by out-of-date mores is not about whether women should have children or not, or about whether once they have kids mothers should work or stay at home. It is about how no matter what they do or how hard they try, women will never achieve the promised nirvana of idealized mothering. Douglas and Michaels skillfully map the distance traveled from the days when "The Feminine Mystique" demanded more for women than the unpaid labor of keeping house and raising children, to today's not-so-subtle pressure to reverse this thirty-year trend. A must-read forevery woman.
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is quite simply an excellent read. I have been working on a degree project on how the role of motherhood is used by society to manipulate women, and this book has been a real help. Not only does it explore how feminism actually fought for mothers and contradicts many misconceptions on this issue, but it takes an indepth look at how the media portrays motherhood and sets standards that are impossible to achieve. There is a particularly intersting section on celebrity mothers- something that we cannot fail to have noticed in virtually every magazine and newspaper, telling us how fantastic motherhood is. The text is humerous, light hearted and yet exposes how women are basically set up to fail - whatever they do. It's not a feminist rant in any way shape or form, and yet it conveys a feminist message. It is a book that should be read by mothers and those who aren't, as it will certainly strike a chord with both, and make them feel that they are not on their own, and that they are not failing. An excellent book.
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Forget feminism and bra-burning, this is the book to make all we "liberated" women realise the NEW kind of pressure we all labour under: if you don't want to be a mum, you're bad; if you don't enjoy every single second with your kids and yearn for more, you're bad; if you don't find each snot-stained and paint-smeared second of motherhood the most richly rewarding experience of your entire life, you're bad. This book exposes the myth and tells us all to lighten up and be real people, not desperate wanna-be carbon copies of celeb "moms" in the glossies. Come on mums, let's admit it; we love our kids, but sometimes being a mum is just pants!
20 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book really hits the spot and is a must-read for all new mothers and fathers. The authors are utterly convincing in their argument about the myths of motherhood that exist in society today - ie the myth that only mothers can raise children, that motherhood will always be the most fulfilling experience of your life - and the fact that these myths are used to disempower women and make them feel inadequate. They are particularly funny on the celebrity mother profiles.
Just after finishing the book I picked up a parenting magazine which claimed that decorating my baby's nursery would be the most exciting thing I would ever do. Which proves the points this book is making, really.... Buy this book - it will laugh and make you realise that you're almost certainly a good enough parent.....
Just after finishing the book I picked up a parenting magazine which claimed that decorating my baby's nursery would be the most exciting thing I would ever do. Which proves the points this book is making, really.... Buy this book - it will laugh and make you realise that you're almost certainly a good enough parent.....
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