“Womanliness means only motherhood;
All love begins and ends there, - roams enough,
But, having run the circle, rests at home.”
Robert Browning
“I never thought that you should be rewarded for the greatest privilege of life.”
Mary Roper Coker, Mother of the Year 1958
"All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother." Abraham Lincoln
Motherhood is a role surrounded by imagery and assumptions. Overwhelmingly these images are sentimentalised and romantic. But whilst having children clearly adds significantly to people’s lives and happiness, the practical job of being a mother is not always a source of unalloyed happiness.
In some cases this can be the result of post-natal illness, but it need not be this extreme. For many women, whilst they love their children, the day-to-day tasks of being a mother may be dull, and the pressure of trying to balance their children with a job, and their own sense of self, is far from easy.
In the past women have been reluctant to admit mixed feelings about the role for fear of being judged unnatural, and to some extent that reluctance remains; many issues that surround motherhood have been taboo. Motherhood as a concept has been put on a pedestal, and the recent media-fuelled phenomenon of 'Yummy Mummy's' has only added to the idea that women should provide nurture and support, whilst simultaneously running the home, pursuing their careers, and looking glamorous.
But with the development of the internet and the opportunities it has provided for blogging and online forums, are women now taking advantage of the opportunity to voice the reality of their lives as mothers? This site has spoken to mothers, experts and academics involved in the online mothering community to examine whether or not a more realistic, and diverse, vision of motherhood is beginning to emerge. Has the backlash against the Myths of Mothering begun?