Overview
Many mothers today turn to social media for parenting advice, joining online mothersā groups on Facebook and elsewhere. But the communities they find in these supposed safe havens can be rife with aggression, peer pressure, and groupthinkāinsisting that only certain practices are ābest,ā āhealthiest,ā āsafestā (and mandatory). In this book, Jessica Clements and Kari Nixon debunk the myth of āoptimal motherhoodāāthe idea that there is only one right answer to parenting dilemmas, and that optimal mothers must pursue perfection. In fact, Clements and Nixon write, parenting choices are not binaries, and the scientific findings touted by mommy groups are neither clear-cut nor prescriptive.
Clements and Nixon trace contemporary ideas of optimal motherhood to the nineteenth-century āCult of True Womanhood,ā which viewed women in terms of purity and dignity. Both mothers themselves, they joined a variety of Facebook mothersā groups to explore what goes on in online mommy wars. They examine debates within these groups over CDC recommendations about alcohol during pregnancy, birth plans that donāt go according to plan, breastfeeding vs. formula, co-sleeping and ācrying it out,ā and ātweakingā pregnancy test kits to discern pregnancy as early as possible. Clements and Nixon argue for an empowered motherhood, freed from the impossible standards of the optimal.
This book title, Optimal Motherhood and Other Lies Facebook Told Us (Assembling the Networked Ethos of Contemporary Maternity Advice), ISBN: 9780262543620, by Jessica Clements, Kari Nixon, published by MIT Press (November 1, 2022) is available in paperback. Our minimum order quantity is 25 copies. All standard bulk book orders ship FREE in the continental USA and delivered in 4-10 business days.
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