The Mommy Myth
The Idealization of Motherhood and How It Has Undermined All Women
By Susan Douglas; Meredith Michaels
(Free Press, Paperback, 9780743260466, 400pp.)
Publication Date: February 1, 2005
Other Editions of This Title: Hardcover
Categories: Parenting - Motherhood, Sociology - Marriage & Family, Women's Studies - General
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Taking readers on a provocative tour through thirty years of media images about mothers -- the superficial achievements of celebrity moms, the sensational coverage of dangerous day care, the media-manufactured "mommy wars" between working mothers and stay-at-home moms, and more -- The Mommy Myth contends that this "new momism" has been shaped by out-of-date mores, and that no matter how hard they try, women will never achieve it. In this must-read for every woman, Susan J. Douglas and Meredith W. Michaels shatter the myth of the perfect mom and all but shout, "We're not gonna take it anymore!"
Susan J. Douglas is the Catherine Neafie Kellogg Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Michigan. She is the author of Listening In: Radio and the American Imagination, Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female with the Mass Media, and Inventing American Broadcasting, 1899-1922. Her journalistic articles have appeared in The Nation, Ms., In These Times, TV Guide, and The Progressive.
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...
Cathi Hanauer editor of The Bitch in the House and author of My Sister's Bones Fascinating, funny, smart, scary, and long overdue, The Mommy Myth debunks the next big myth that's gotta come down: that of the Perfect Mother. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT skip this book.
Katha Pollitt author of Subject to Debate: Sense and Dissents on Women, Politics, and Culture I have one word for The Mommy Myth: FINALLY! With humor, wit and solid information, Douglas and Michaels take on the sentimentalized, privatized moralism of contemporary motherhood and show how it harms both women and children.
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