Recreating Motherhood [Paperback]

Barbara Katz Rothman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2000

Recipient of the Jesse Bernard Award of the American Sociological Association. "Rereading Recreating Motherhood should be high up on the agenda of everyone interested in women's health."-Women & Health "Written with force, grace and great humanity. Barbara Katz Rothman's disciplined, informed, passionately careful thinking on gender and genetics makes Recreating Motherhood a sound, wise guide both to the politics of motherhood and to private moral decision-making. This is an invaluable book."-Ursula K. Le Guin "This wonderful and classic feminist text has been beautifully revised for the new millennium. Rothman's incisive analysis of the culture of motherhood is a must read for scholars, activists, policy makers, students, parents, parents-to-be-for anyone interested in procreative and family issues. I rarely say so about sociological writing: you won't be able to put it down!" -Wendy Simonds, author of Abortion at Work: Ideology and Practice in a Feminist Clinic "A lively, sensible work, connecting different aspects of women's reproductive freedom, exploring the various assaults against those freedoms, and positing feminist alternatives in a hopeful and practical manner."-Robin Morgan, author of Word of a Woman: Feminist Dispatches Selling "genetically gifted" human eggs on the free market for a hefty price. Birth mothers reclaiming their children. Fetal rights. Surrogacy. Nannygate. All are instances of news stories with which we have become familiar in recent years. Yet these issues are often regarded as distinct problems. Barbara Katz Rothman demonstrates how they form a complex whole that demands of us in response a coherent vision-a woman-centered, class-sensitive way of understanding motherhood and the family. Her book shows clearly that the real needs of mother, father, and children have been swept aside in an attempt to reduce the complex process of human reproduction to a clinical event that can be controlled by medical technology. Rothman suggests ways to accomplish social and legal changes that would allow technological advances and evolving gender roles to affirm the mother-child relationship without cost to women's identities. In this new edition of a classic work, Rothman shows how this material is key in understanding the family, not just motherhood. A new chapter, "Reflections on a Decade," explores how new reproductive technologies combine with new marketing and new genetics to pose troubling social questions. Barbara Katz Rothman is a professor of sociology at the City University of New York. She is the author of many books, including Genetic Maps and Human Imaginations: The Limits of Science in Understanding Who We Are.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Rothman, a sociologist at the City University of New York, is herself a wife and mother, and her third book, following In Labor and The Tentative Pregnancy , centers on how "motherhood" can be undermined by technology. Indicting scientific "progress" that can reduce women to machines bearing children for sale, she adds her opinion to the controversary surrounding "Baby M" and related issues. Rothman warns of the grave social problems already evinced by alternative methods of "having" babies, such as surrogacy, artificial conception, etc. Readers may quarrel with some of the author's convictions but they will agree with her argument that it's past time for women to restore motherhood to its proper status.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Rothman examines the impact of the new reproductive technologies on the institution of the family. Using the Baby M and Baby Doe cases as points of departure, she discusses the medical, legal, and ethical aspects of current medical advances. She notes with alarm the tendency to look at children as commodities and mothers as a means of production. Unlike other books dealing with this material, Rothman's goes beyond warnings of abuse by the male-dominated medical and legal professions and beyond the traditional feminist call for taking control from the oppressor. She offers practical suggestions for an enlightened social policy regarding parenthood, family structure, and childcare. A thoughtful, well-written analysis of contemporary issues for a wide audience. Barbara M. Bibel, Oakland P.L., Cal.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press; 2nd edition (November 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813528747
• ISBN-13: 978-0813528748
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #898,223 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4.0 out of 5 stars Father Technology Doesn't Know Best, May 11, 2005

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Kaayla T. Daniel "The Naughty Nutritionist" (Albuquerque, NM United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Recreating Motherhood (Paperback)

Barbara Katz Rothman provides a riveting discussion of the moral, ethical and social implications of reproductive technology. But it saddens me that she -- like so many educated women -- seems to accept the idea that Father Technology -- in the form of the medical/pharmaceutical industry -- offers the only possible solution to infertility, aside from adoption. Must it be either/or? Female intuition tells me "no" and there's a mother lode of healthful and nourishing traditions that modern women can profitably mine. I would highly recommend Katie Singer's book "Garden of Fertility" for any couples experiencing infertility and considering their options.