Mediating Moms: Mothers in Popular Culture ed. by Elizabeth Podnieks (review)

As Elizabeth Podnieks describes in the introduction, being a mother in the current historical moment is complicated. This complexity results from the fact that mothers are portrayed in media sources, and contemporary mothers are inundated with parenting advice, reprimands, and praise. Using a wide variety of conceptual lenses (including psychoanalytic, feminist, literary, sociological, and cultural studies) across numerous international contexts, this volume investigates the portrayals of mothers in books, TV, the Internet, newspapers, and magazines. According to this volume, the experience of mothering and the messages that the media transmits about mothering are conflicting and contradictory. Contributing authors show how mothers participate in and resist these circulating discourses.

The collection is divided into four parts: maternal surveillance, generational motherhood, pregnant and postpartum bodies, and medical interventions and reproductive technologies. The first section engagingly describes how the media judge mothers based on discourses of good, good enough, and bad mothering. Stephanie Wardrop highlights preschool TV discourses about mothers who work outside the home versus those who do not, while Green and Podnieks interrogate how reality TV and popular tabloids reinforce idealized norms of good and bad mothers. In the contexts of British politics and the Irish press, Jennifer Bell and Nicola Goc describe how ideals of motherhood and marriage are reinforced. Finally, Jo Johnson highlights images of mothers in popular shows such as The Simpsons, asserting that Marge Simpson expands ideas of “good motherhood.”

Exploring a variety of compelling contexts, the second section highlights how motherhood differs across historical contexts and generations. Imelda Whelehan describes how 1960s fiction provided women with a voice, while at the same time reinforcing mothers’ guilt and anxiety in relation to steep standards for maternal perfection. Irene Gammel asserts that the film Anne of Green Gables deepens our view of motherhood, while Beth O’Connor focuses on Yo’ Mama, a publication created by six teen mothers to resist media representations of teen parents. Rounding out the section, Maud Perrier discusses how the British media depicted Patricia Rashbook, a sixty-three-year-old mother, as both “selfish” and “more mature” than younger mothers.

The third section journeys into the realm of health care by highlighting representations of pregnant and postpartum bodies in the media. Kathyrn Pallister discusses the pressures placed on women to breastfeed, while H. Louise Davis investigates how black African mothers are portrayed in films and documentaries. Russell investigates Birth Stories, a Canadian TV show, highlighting how this medium supports and redefines popular notions about the “medical model of birth and labor.” Debra Lanagan describes how the media instruct mothers to care for themselves, encouraging them to do so by emphasizing that self-care will enable them to be better mothers. Finally, Hosu Kim investigates Korean narratives by women who gave their children up for adoption.

The final section details how women’s bodies relate to current medical interventions and reproductive technologies. Sally Mennill discusses how What to Expect When You’re Expecting promotes fear rather than providing consolation for expectant mothers. Latham Hunter reveals how the discourse on motherhood promoted in Grey’s Anatomy both supports and refutes idealized norms of motherhood. Jocelyn Stitt analyzes how Tom Cruise critiqued Brook Shields for taking medication to assist with her postpartum depression, while Lenora Perry-Jamaniego discusses the possibilities for lesbian mothering showcased in The L Word. Finally, Stuart Murray utilizes philosophical ideas to consider key debates about reproductive technologies.

Providing a compelling contribution to the literature, this collection offers a multi-faceted, complex, and international account of how the media reinforce conflicting, damaging, and liberating discourses. With its references to prominent maternal theorists such as Sharon Hays, Susan Douglas, and Meredith Michaels, this book will interest a wide range of scholars. This book will at the same time appeal to everyday mothers who are attempting to navigate conflicting messages about work, parenting, and the balance of the two. In summary, Mediating Moms provides contemporary mothers, both scholars and practitioners, with key tools to speak back to media sources...