Motherhood Online

It may take a village to raise a child, but increasingly that means a virtual village. While the media may focus on the so-called “mommy wars,” and babyrazzi follow every move of celebrity moms, millions of mothers world-wide are creating online communities. These mommy groups provide an alternative context for understanding how women construct modern motherhood together. Motherhood Online explores the mutifaceted lives that moms live online. Ranging from longitudinal studies to focused explorations of identity, and the newest community context, mommy blogs, this book documents the millions of mommies who have found an outlet online. Whether centered on region, religion, race, or something else altogether, these communities of mothers are creating a new space for mom and allowing many women to maintain a grasp, however tenuous, on sanity in this crazy-making world of modern motherhood.

The contributing authors in this anthology address diverse topics in mothering and social media, including framing of stepmothers in online forums, mothering in the digital diaspora, the construction of the "bad mother" on Twitter, immersive gaming and parenting classes, virtual mother outlaws, alternative mothering websites, feminist parenting, and more. While the works are primarily rooted in critical and feminist perspectives, a variety of methodologies and approaches to studying mothering and social media are represented in this text, and encourage a robust and thoughtful examination of the role of interactive media in the maternal experience. Lorin Basden Arnold, Ph.D. is a family communication and gender scholar. Her recent scholarly work has primarily related to understandings and enactments of motherhood.

The convergence of dramatic declines in birth rates worldwide, aside from sub-Saharan Africa, the rise of untrammelled global movement of capital, people and information, and the rapid-fire dissemination of a host of new medical technologies has led to the "globalization of motherhood". This book brings together research from the Global North and the Global South to illuminate how contemporary motherhood is being changed by the processes of globalization. It locates declining fertility and desire for motherhood in the context of female employment, the development of the global market in reproductive technologies, the rising transnational labour market demand for feminized carework, and changing family forms. Focusing on the impacts on women who mother- and enable others to do so- across diverse contexts, the book examines the way in which conception, gestation mothering labor and care are being mobilized across national boundaries. Bringing together demographers, sociologists, lawyers, public health and social theorists, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of globalization studies, development studies, gender studies, feminist politics, political economy, human rights, and social policy.

"Andrea O'Reilly's coverage is comprehensive. Her book reflects current trends in the field, particularly the examination of reproductive technologies and the Internet and their implications for motherhood and mothering."---Heather Hewett, State University of New York, New Paltz, writer and editor of the Global Mama column for Girl with Pen (www.girlwpen.com) --

In the last decade, the topic of motherhood has emerged as a distinct and established field of scholarly inquiry. A cursory review of motherhood research reveals that hundreds of scholarly articles have been published on almost every motherhood theme imaginable. The Encyclopedia of Motherhood is a collection of approximately 700 articles in a three-volume, A-to-Z set exploring major topics related to motherhood, from geographical, historical and cultural entries to anthropological and psychological contributions. In human society, few institutions are as important as motherhood, and this unique encyclopedia captures the interdisciplinary foundation of the subject in one convenient reference. The Encyclopedia is a comprehensive resource designed to provide an understanding of the complexities of motherhood for academic and public libraries, and is written by academics and institutional experts in the social and behavioural sciences.

No other guide covers the complete retail picture like this exciting new volume. America's retail industry is in the midst of vast changes - superstores and giant discounters are popping up on major corners. Malls are lagging while "power centers" are surging ahead. Savvy firms are combining bricks, clicks and catalogs into multi-channel retail powerhouses. Which are the hottest retailers? What lies ahead? Our market research section shows you the trends and a thorough analysis of retail technologies, chain stores, shopping centers, mergers, finances and future growth within the industry. Included are major statistical tables showing everything from monthly U.S. retail sales, by sector, to mall sales per square foot, to the 10 largest malls in the US. Meanwhile, the corporate profiles section gives you complete profiles of the leading, fastest growing retail chains across the nation. From Wal-Mart and Costco to Barnes & Noble and Amazon, we profile the major companies that marketing executives, investors and job seekers most want to know about. These profiles include corporate name, address, phone, fax, web site, growth plans, competitive advantage, financial histories and up to 27 executive contacts by title. Purchasers of the printed book or PDF version may receive a free CD-ROM database of the corporate profiles, enabling export of vital corporate data for mail merge and other uses.

Early Motherhood in Digital Societies offers a nuanced understanding of what the digital turn has meant for new mothers in an intense and critical period before and after they have a baby, often called the ‘perinatal’ period. The book looks at an array of digital communication and content by drawing on an extensive research project involving in-depth qualitative data from interviews with new mothers in the United Kingdom and online case studies. These stories are analysed to investigate the complexity of emotions around birth, the diversity of birth experiences and the myriad ways in which television, the press and social media impede and empower women giving birth. The book asks: what does the use of technology mean in the perinatal context and what implications might it have for maternal well-being? It argues for a balanced and context-sensitive approach to the digital for maternal well-being in the critical perinatal period. By doing this, the book fills a gap in media studies, addressing itself to gaps within audience analysis, health communication and parenting. It will be essential reading for research and teaching modules in media studies, cultural studies, sociology, health communication and sociology of medicine and health.

Divided into 15 chapters, this book provides the reader with an insight into certain representations of mothers and motherhood in history and today’s societies in some areas of the world, notably in Britain and Asia. Key facts about the history of motherhood are presented, together with the use of very recent notions and phrases portraying ‘good’ and ‘bad’ mothers. An analysis of the concepts of naming and blaming, along with regret with respect to mothers in 21st century societies, provides food for thought. Other issues addressed are varied and numerous: the politics of early intervention, feminist critique, mothers with disabilities and mothers of disabled children, incarcerated mothers, surrogate mothers, teenage mothers, lesbian mothers, and mothering in Eastern Asia, namely in China, Japan, and Korea. Interestingly, both visual arts and literature play a crucial role in this analysis. The publication will appeal to students, academics, researchers, and the general public interested in and seeking to comprehend the shifts that have occurred over time in connection with the vast and inexhaustible subject of motherhood and mothers – a private and public matter. Readers are also provided with a rich reference section dealing with the latest publications on the issues tackled by prominent academics and researchers in human geography, women’s studies, sociology, gender studies, contemporary history, and the arts.