Myths of Motherhood: How Culture Reinvents the Good Mother (Paperback)

by Shari Thurer (Author)
Key Phrases: medieval mom, mother bashing, baby farmers, Middle Ages, Great Mother, Virgin Mary (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
In an enlightening, disarming survey of motherhood across the centuries, Thurer draws on feminist theory, psychoanalysis and cultural history to show that each society has its own norms, beliefs and expectations for mothering. She finds that pervasive misogyny and female infanticide subverted ancient Greek motherhood, while in the Middle Ages, fierce maternal love--personified by the archetype of the Madonna selflessly devoted to her Son--coexisted with child abandonment and widespread inhumane treatment of children. The "good mother"--properly married, subservient, modest, forgoing her own needs and desires to rear her children--was invented during the Protestant Reformation, asserts Thurer, a Boston clinical psychologist. Encouraging a diversity of mothering styles, she suggests that mothers today can be personally ambitious without endangering their children and advocates a family model based on "shared sacrifice," with new forms of public and private support to ease the burden of mothering.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews
Psychologist Thurer offers a historical smorgasbord of societal attitudes toward mothering, from the paleolithic period to the present. She views the Stone Age as a golden period for women: The prevalent divinities were powerful, complex mother goddesses, revered for their seemingly magical ability to bear children. By 600 bc, the patriarchy's ascendancy signaled the beginning of a long downward spiral for the status of mothers and, by extension, of children. In classical Athens, misogyny was particularly virulent; women were marginalized, and infanticide appeared to be the preferred form of family planning. Medieval and Renaissance Europeans venerated images of the Virgin Mary and her divine child, but in real life, deaths of infants (particularly girls) due to neglect and abandonment reached epidemic proportions. Throughout much of later European history, women who fit the mold of the submissive, fertile wife were idealized, albeit patronized, while unwed mothers were vilified and sometimes put to death. By the early 20th century, as medical advances made survival of birth more likely for both mother and child, ``scientific motherhood'' arrived. A stream of manuals offered advice on raising physically and emotionally healthy children, paving the way for psychological theories that blamed women for all their offspring's emotional ills. Recently, though, says Thurer, the image of mothers has been revitalized by feminist authors who portray them as loving but with a realistic range of emotions. Mom is finally becoming a person. Many of Thurer's conclusions, particularly those concerning early history, seem open to question, based as they are on scanty evidence. And there are some distracting factual lapses. (The Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary means that from the time she was conceived she was without original sin--not that she was conceived asexually.) Nonetheless, Thurer effectively demonstrates how transient any one view of mothering really is. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (May 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140246835
• ISBN-13: 978-0140246834
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #677,998 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I Recommend this Book, October 13, 1999

By	Carolyn Slattery - See all my reviews

I found this book to be a fascinating, couldn't-put-it-down retrospective of motherhood seen in a historical and cultural perspective. Not only was the subject matter interesting, but it was written in a fresh and accessible manner for the non-historian.

3 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars None of that feminist hogwash, May 23, 2000

By	"carmen-k" (Miami, FL USA) - See all my reviews

Being a woman against political correctness also does not make me a big fan of many feministic studies, so I was a bit relunctant to pick up this book at my college bookstore. The Myths of Motherhood is a fascinating read and not written by the usual feminist fare of male-hating/bashing writers. Shari L. Thurer is a mother herself and she writes with confident prose of the "maternal" perception throughout areas of history. Even with convincing speculation on what may have gone on through the minds of women in their respective eras. This book is an excellent reference on several levels and will lead one to re-evaluate just how much society's changes have affected what we *think* is a proper "mother".

17 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Mixed Bag, April 9, 2003

By	Tammy L. Schilling "tammyl84" (MD) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Myths of Motherhood: How Culture Reinvents the Good Mother (Paperback)

Like so many works by liberal feminists, The Myths of Motherhood is a mixed bag of good. Some good, some bad, some just silly.

First the bad: Shari L Thurer is clearly a liberal feminist. She uses this book to expound her belief in abortion, shared parenting arrangements, government subsidized daycare, and all the typical liberal feminist stuff. In many places in the book Ms. Thurer switches from giving historical data of motherhood in particular times/places to postulating about she believes it can/should have been done differently, and openly expressing her opinions on the subject of the ancient people that she describes. I think it's safe to say that no one this far removed from ancient people is qualified to give opinions about them. The giving of opinion and liberal propaganda are a shame, because the really overshadow the good things in this book.

Another problem that some readers may have with this book is that all religion is relegated to 'myth'. Some people may be offended to find that their closely held religious views are treated somewhat callously in this book.

Second, the Silly: Ms Thurer in some places in this book has failed to do her research on the topic and makes mistakes that even a lay person can easily catch. For example: she makes reference to the Catholic doctrine of Immaculate Conception, but she completely screws up the exegesis by making it seem that Jesus was immaculately conceived. That is not what the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception refers to. Immaculate Conception is the Catholic doctrine which says that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was saved and cleansed from sin in her mother's womb. It's just silly of Ms. Thurer to make a mistake like this. It makes the reader doubt her other academic claims as well on the logic that if she can't get the easy stuff right, how can the reader trust her with the harder parts?

Ms. Thurer also spends quite a lot of time in this book drawing proposterous conclusions about the state of a society by drawing upon it's works of art and literature. While these may be good tools for gauging how SOME members of a society MIGHT have felt, it is hardly material for making conclusions about an entire society's opinions on a topic - especially when the author ignore the purpose and context in which these works are made to be seen.

Ms Thurer also makes some pretty amazing LEAPS of logic. My favorite example is that in looking at the historical issue of infanticide and infant mortality, Ms. Thurer feels that to prevent infant deaths (through mortality and infanticide) we should have widespread access to abortion. Does she not understand the equation: 1DeadBabyThroughAbortion=1DeadBabyThroughInfanticide? Honestly, logic like hers is dangerous!

The Good: Yes, I do have some good. Ms Thurer does an excellent job of breaking down general historical periods and highlighting the trends, statistics, and practices of various cultures. She also does a good job of highlighting the issue that mothers are people, too, and need to be treated as whole persons with feelings and needs (this is somewhat overshadowed by the fact that she denys that mothers have a responsibility to put their children's needs before their own happiness).

Overall, this book has some good historical information that some may find interesting but is strongly overshadowed by a lack of good scholarship and the author's strong liberalist leanings.