Motherhood

According to Dr. Daniel Stern, when a woman gives birth to a child, she becomes a different person -- her mind-set shifts and she finds that she is guided by new hopes, fears, and priorities. Dr. Stern has interviewed hundreds of women and in The Birth of a Mother he uses his findings to paint a wonderfully evocative picture of the psychology of motherhood. This book will serve as an invaluable sourcebook for new mothers, validating the often confusing emotions that accompany the development of their new identity. In addition to providing insight into the unique state of motherhood, Dr. Stern touches on related topics such as going back to work, fatherhood, adoption, and premature birth. Beautifully packaged, this book will make an ideal gift for first-time mothers as they exult in an experience that will change their lives forever.

How does having children change the ways women think about themselves? What is the effect of motherhood on the gender identity of women? Is motherhood an engendering, as well as a gendered, experience? To answer such provocative questions, Martha McMahon asked a sample of full-time employed mothers of preschoolers to describe their experiences of pregnancy, motherhood, and the effects of these events on their self-concepts. The resulting in-depth interviews, examined in this revealing new book, explore paths to motherhood that these women followed, as well as their experiences after giving birth. Using symbolic interaction as an analytical tool, the author comes to insightful, and politically relevant, conclusions. Unlike many available texts on motherhood, this volume also provides pertinent data on how class, marital status, and work shape the ways in which women create identities for themselves as mothers. The book illuminates the paradoxical character of motherhood--as both a socially determined, potentially oppressive role and one that also provides profound personal meaning that can expand the boundaries of women's lives. The author illustrates how an informed understanding of the impact of motherhood on women's identities provides an essential framework for a more relevant critique of dominant models of human relationships. Providing a vivid look, based on qualitative research, at this central experience of many women's lives, Engendering Motherhood is invaluable reading for family sociologists, those interested in gender studies, and anyone concerned with the rewards and costs of motherhood. The book serves as a text for courses in family sociology, sociology of gender, gender studies, and feminist theory, and for sociology courses focusing on the use of qualitative methodology.

No single area of medicine promises more acrimonious and intense debate in the coming decades than the implications of new medical technologies on the maternal-fetal relationships. This is the only book to combine comprehensive coverage of the legal and social issues raised as a result of both emerging technologies for fetal intervention and increasing knowledge of fetal development. It examines such issues as the effects of maternal behavior on the fetus's health, hazards in the workplace, teenage pregnancy, and the use of therapeutic and diagnostic techniques. The volume also summarizes the legal/political context of policies regarding the mother's responsibility for the welfare of the fetus and describes the current status of these issues in public law.

"As Michael Harrington's New American Poverty alerted readers to that problem, so the present collection makes readers aware of the various conditions of single parenting. . . . The institutional barriers of courts, housing, and workplace to the economic well-being of the female single parent are explicitly and directly examined. Solid recommendations for institutionalizing change on the state and federal levels are made. The interdisciplinary expertise of the authors covers the fields of law, social work, urban planning, housing, economics, and public policy, all with solid academic preparation. Charts are clear and concise, and the laguage is direct and concrete." Choice

This revised edition by a research psychologist shows how to stop blaming mother and, instead, start loving her. By identifying dangerous myths about mothers, Caplan shows how anger and agony can be replaced with a new bond based on understanding and respect.

This book explores the complex and rewarding relationship between mothers and their sons. It begins with a survey of the literature on the mother/son relationship. The main part of Forcey's study is based on the oral histories of 120 mothers in which they reveal their feelings of responsibility toward their sons, their expectations, and how they communicate. The book closes with three "portraits" of women who describe their relationships with their sons and how they have changed over time and through such upheavals as mothers returning to work and divorce. In examining the mother/son relationship, Mothers of Sons ultimately questions whether or not mothers foster sexist masculinity and whether they can be blamed for male dominance.

Although interest in mother/daughter relationships has led to a plethora of books on the subject, these books all consider situations found in the mainstream white population. In this book, relationships between mothers and daughters from 13 ethnic groups, including Asian, Black, Latino, and Native American, are explored. The voices of 17 highly successful mothers, in different stages of their life, and their 19 daughters are heard. The reader will learn of their values, intergenerational relationships, and the mother's influence as a role model. The research that confirms their personal stories and validates their life stories is discussed. The book provides valuable insight into the issues facing minority women in the United States.

Since the early 1970s, scholars have argued, defined, and refined a wide range of interpretations of American women's lives. Despite the richness of the recent literature, few interpretations sufficiently credit women's family and sexual experiences for the emergence of feminism and the construction of pro-family agendas. Thus, Johnston's approach offers an opportunity to view the history of feminism and the family from a fresh perspective. Much of the literature on feminism has focused on women's oppression and victimization, rather than on the power that women historically have exerted. Johnston's interpretation of American feminism differs from previous works because she argues that the gradual growth of feminist consciousness lies not simply in oppression or feelings of victimization, but paradoxically in a growing sense of empowerment of women as wives and mothers. Johnston explores critical questions concerning American women's sexual lives. How have women's empowering experiences in the family shaped,feminist consciousness and action? How have feminists confronted family issues? How have women exerted sexual power? How was it contained within the limits of patriarchal society at times, while at other times it fueled the fires of feminist rebellion? How have gender and class issues affected domestic politics and feminism?

With the publication in 1985 of The Interpersonal World of the Infant, Daniel N. Stern changed the way we understand how individuals develop a sense of self. Now in this pioneering new work of creative synthesis, he maps out the emerging field of parent-infant psychotherapy and describes a powerful new paradigm for understanding the relationship between parent and child: the motherhood constellation. With the birth of a baby, Stern argues, the mother (and, to some extent, the father) passes into a unique stage of life with a new set of tendencies, sensibilities, fantasies, fears, and wishes. This new organization of mental life - the motherhood constellation - forces clinicians working with mothers and infants to adopt a different treatment framework and therapeutic alliance. From an analysis of the leading schools of parent-infant psychotherapy, Stern crystallizes the factors that effect change. He shows in vivid detail the critical elements of any parent-infant clinical system: the parents' representations of the relationship with their baby, the overt interactions occurring between parent and infant, the infant's representations of these interactions, and the place of the therapist in this clinical system. Through his clear picture of the clinical situation, refined search for what's effective in parent-infant therapy, and illustration of the motherhood constellation, Stern reveals a general new form of therapy. This wholly original view of parent-infant psychotherapy and motherhood, with its practical implications for therapy, is a major contribution to our understanding of human development, psychopathology, and therapy in general.

A writers' multicultural festival in celebration of motherhood in all its infinite varieties filled with pain, joy, terror, ecstasy, ignorance, wisdom, despair, fulfillment, peace, and wonder.