Slummy Mummy

For Lucy Sweeney, motherhood isn't all astanga yoga and Cath Kidston prints. It's been years since the dirty laundry pile was less than a metre high, months since Lucy remembered to have sex with her husband, and a week since she last did the school run wearing pyjamas. Motherhood, it seems, has more pitfalls than she might have expected. Caught between perfectionist Yummy Mummy No 1 and hypercompetitive Alpha Mum, Lucy is in danger of losing the parenting plot. And worst of all, she's alarmingly distracted by Sexy Domesticated Dad. It's only a matter of time before the dirty laundry quite literally blows up in her face...

A debut novel based on the popular London Times Magazine column by the same name follows the misadventures of stay-at-home mom Lucy Sweeney, who struggles between the chaos of caring for three young boys and her ideals as inspired by a perfectionist reality-television style program. Reprint.

The Good Mother brings together essays on the contemporary relevance of the 'good mother' in Australia. Although the ideals of the 'good mother' change with time, fashion and context, they persist in public policy, the media, popular culture and workplaces. They place pressure on women to conform to particular standards, against which they are judged and judge themselves. This book captures the diversity of contemporary women's experiences. Chapters address the experiences of executive mothers, mothers working in manual trades, 'yummy mummies' and 'slummy mummies', low income mothers, single mothers, Indigenous mothers, lesbian parents, adoptive mothers and mothers negotiating schools and school choice. The essays demonstrate that while the 'good mother' is no longer exclusively white, heterosexual, economically dependent and child focused, prevailing ideas about mothers and motherhood continue to influence the way 'types' of women are represented and the way that all mothers think, act and present themselves.

‘Honest, gutsy and laugh out loud... Do your pelvic floor exercises before reading as you may pee your pants’ – Kathy Lette A celebration of parenting failures, hilarious confessions, fish fingers and wine! This is a book for anyone who’s ever dealt with a poo in the pool, cleaned up a sick in the supermarket, or gone to an important meeting without realising there’s weetabix stuck to their bum. Because let’s be honest – no matter how much we love our kids, or how good we are at parenting, everyone’s a Scummy Mummy sometimes.

Although a large body of work has emerged which addresses neoliberal representations of the family in other cultural forms (such as parenting advice programmes) little has been written specifically on the family and contemporary literature. This book examines the growing body of autobiographical and fictional writing on family and parenting issues in Anglo-American culture from the late 1990s to the present day. The book looks closely at six distinct genres which have arisen during this time frame: the misery memoir, the mum’s lit popular novel, the maternal confessional, ‘dads’ lit, the dysfunctional domestic novel and the family noir. Writing the Modern Family will examine the way these burgeoning areas of British and American writing respond to a neoliberal public discourse in which a ‘parenting deficit’ rather than economic and structural disadvantage, is responsible for increasing inequality in child welfare and achievement. In evaluating these forms and their relationship to neoliberal culture, the book will also consider the complex interrelationship between these genres.

***THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER*** From bestselling author and massively popular blogger The Unmumsy Mum comes this hilarious, irreverent and searingly candid compendium of parenting experiences. With entries including D is for Desperation, F is for Fish Fingers, S is for Supermum and V is for Vagina, it's safe to say this is not your average A-Z. This book won't tell you what sort of parent you should (or shouldn't) be; instead, it offers a refreshingly honest account of what being a mum to three young children is really like and the surprising lessons that have been learned along the way. If you feel as though you're not 'measuring up' or are struggling to #cherisheverymoment, Sarah's tales from the thick of it will reassure and resonate with you. Above all, her commitment to telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth will make you laugh out loud and remind you that you are, in fact, doing a great job. What readers are saying: 'For all parents out there, this is a must read.' 'Absolutely hilarious and so true to life. 100% recommend.' 'Makes me smile and actually keeps me sane as it is so easy to relate to.' 'It made me laugh (Sleeping through), it made me cry (Xmas) and it made me feel better about the times I think I'm getting it wrong.'

This collection of essays focuses on the representations of a variety of “bad girls”—women who challenge, refuse, or transgress the patriarchal limits intended to circumscribe them—in television, popular fiction, and mainstream film from the mid-twentieth century to the present. Perhaps not surprisingly, the initial introduction of women into Western cultural narrative coincides with the introduction of transgressive women. From the beginning, for good or ill, women have been depicted as insubordinate. Today’s popular manifestations include such widely known figures as Lisbeth Salander (the “girl with the dragon tattoo”), The Walking Dead’s Michonne, and the queen bees of teen television series. While the existence and prominence of transgressive women has continued uninterrupted, however, attitudes towards them have varied considerably. It is those attitudes that are explored in this collection. At the same time, these essays place feminist/postfeminist analysis in a larger context, entering into ongoing debates about power, equality, sexuality, and gender.

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 first ever on the topic, this Encyclopedia of Motherhood helps to both demarcate motherhood as a scholarly field and an academic discipline and to direct its future development. With more than 700 entries, these three volumes provide information on the central terms, concepts, topics, issues, themes, debates, theories, and texts of this new discipline. Further, the encyclopedia examines the topic of motherhood in various contexts such as history and geography and by academic discipline. Key Features Provides an overview of the topic of motherhood in many and diverse disciplines, such as anthropology, sociology, psychology and philosophy Examines the meaning and experience of motherhood in many time periods from classic civilizations to present day Includes an entry for all the influential theorists of maternal scholarship from the pioneering theories to the more recent writings Covers issues and events of our current times including entries on the mommy blog, the motherhood memoir, terrorism, reproductive technologies, HIV/AIDS, and LGBT families Explores geographical, cultural, and ethnic diversity with an entry for almost every country in the world as well as entries on lesbian, immigrant, adoptive, single, nonresidential, young, poor mothers and mothers with disabilities Key Themes History of Motherhood Issues in Motherhood Motherhood and Family Motherhood and Health Motherhood and Society Motherhood Around the World Motherhood in the United States Motherhood Studies Prominent Mothers 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 scope of the Encyclopedia of Motherhood is focused on providing a comprehensive resource to understanding the complexities of motherhood for academic and public libraries, written by scholars and institutional experts in the social and behavioral sciences.