53. How the Perfect Mother Myth Impacts Individual Mothers

The Good Enough Mother · Mar 15, 2021 · 32m

The social construction of Motherhood impacts us as individual mothers. This is the case even when we resist the ‘shoulds’. In this episode I discuss what some of these impacts are and draw on the analogy of the ‘fish tank’ to help describe how we come to experience the social dimensions of Motherhood on an individual level, and why it is important to consider ‘culturally detoxing’ from intensive mothering ideology – and how much this process is even possible. I point to the ways that guilt, mother-blame, and a ‘loss’ of self and identity are a consequence of living within patriarchal…