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The Myths of Motherhood : How Culture Reinvents the Good Mother by Thurer, Shari L. is a history book available to read on EtoBox.

What is The Myths of Motherhood : How Culture Reinvents the Good Mother about?

Given a voice, what would the Great Goddess, the Virgin Mary, Snow White's evil stepmother, or Portnoy's mom have said about child care, contraception, bonding, or breast-feeding? Would their feelings have mattered? After all, maternity has been constructed by men over the millennia. Aristotle thought mother's womb merely cooked father's seed. The Church preferred virgins to mothers, and Freud was father-fixated. Even a brief survey of history reveals a diversity of maternal practices and ideals that are at odds with each other as well as with the views of contemporary child-care experts and psychologists. "I cannot recall ever treating a mother who did not harbor shameful secrets about how her behavior or feelings damaged her children," writes Thurer. Today our sentimentalized conception of the good mother casts a long, guilt-inducing shadow over real mothers' lives. Never has there been so much advice and so little agreement. Never have the ideals of motherhood been as ambiguous, psychologically demanding, and unforgiving. One conclusion is certain: the "good mother" is a cultural invention. In this brilliant synthesis of history, psychology, the arts, and religion, Thurer shows

Who reads The Myths of Motherhood : How Culture Reinvents the Good Mother?

Author

Thurer, Shari L.

Publisher

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

Published

1994

Language

EN

ISBN

9780140246834

Category

history

Subjects

Gender Studies, Fiction, Sociology

Rating

3.99 / 5 (6 ratings)

Updated

2026-03-14