Mothering Mags with Bite
When it comes to expressing the diversity of mothering experiences and styles, it appears that publications in the United States are leading the way.
As well as the Mothers Movement Online, offering articles written by female intellectuals discussing the politics of motherhood, women in America also have access to magazines aimed at offering a more substantial and rounded vision.
These magazines avoid the typical parenting magazine articles telling you the best way to do things and top ten lists of certain baby-related products, and instead tackle in-depth some the issues, conflicts and politics affecting mothers.
The first of these publications is “Get Born Magazine: The Uncensored Voice of Motherhood.”
Although primarily a print publication, the magazine also has a website offering samples of its writings in an effort to attract new readers.
The need for such magazines aimed at bringing more diversity to images of motherhood is clear to the magazine’s editor Heather Janssen:
“I believe that the current pressures on women to still be accomplished in their careers and be supermoms, coupled with the all-too-often isolation that mothers face, are at an all time high. I also think that, in the absence of dealing with survival issues - such as where the next meal is going to come from - women obsess endlessly over the myriad of small decisions, and guilt or worry themselves into anxiety over trivialities."
"We're also a culture that finds it hard to trust, so while we're lonely, we're not always willing to reach out to other mothers, because their philosophies or opinions may threaten ours, or the relationships might get messy because the kids don't get along.”
As well as attracting submissions from professional writers and academics, the magazine gives its readers the chance to contribute:
“We did have some success at asking women to post their "Top Ten True Confessions" about motherhood on our blog. We have had more success with that than asking our readers to write in without giving a specific topic. Also, we plan to start a segment in each issue called "mother speak" or something, where we publish topics in advance and have readers write in their thoughts about the subjects.”
Kyndra Wilson, who has written for Mothers Movement Online, is a fan of Get Born magazine.
"I have felt a great deal of courage as a result of the steps that Heather Janssen has taken through Get Born because it takes that kind of commitment for someone to start it; somebody has to say it first and then other women can say, 'Yeah, me too'."
Also available in America is “Brain, Child: The Magazine for Thinking Mothers,” whose first issue was published in March 2000.
In the online mission statement the magazine’s two founders Jennifer Niesslein and Stephanie Wilkinson explain:
“Brain, Child cuts past a lot of the bull to get to the voices that are truest - not experts, but women who are, or have been, there. We gave Brian, Child the subtitle "The Magazine for Thinking Mothers," but it could just as easily have been "Motherhood The Way It Really Is." Our writers bring a down-to-earth perspective to traditional and not-so-traditional parenting subjects. And they're willing to address the big questions - our evolving identities as mothers, for instance, or what we're teaching the next generation.”