Undoing Motherhood

In 1978 the world’s first “test-tube baby” was born from in vitro fertilization (IVF), effectively ushering in a paradigm shift for infertility treatment that relied on partially disembodied human reproduction. Beyond IVF, the ability to extract, fertilize, and store reproductive cells outside of the human body has created new opportunities for family building, but also prompted new conflicts about rights to and control over reproductive cells. In collaborative forms of reproduction that build on IVF technologies, such as egg and embryo donation and gestational surrogacy, multiple women may variously contribute to conception, gestation/birth, and the legal and social responsibilities for rearing a child, creating intentionally fragmented maternities. Undoing Motherhood examines the implications of such fragmented maternities in the post-IVF reproductive era for generating maternity uncertainty—an increasing cultural ambiguity about what does and should constitute maternity. Undoing Motherhood explores this uncertainty in the social worlds of reproductive medicine and law.

"In 1978 the world's first "test tube baby" was born from in vitro fertilization (IVF), effectively ushering in a paradigm shift for infertility treatment that relied on partially disembodied human reproduction. Beyond IVF, the ability to extract, fertilize, and store reproductive cells outside of the human body has created new opportunities for family building, but also prompted new conflicts about rights to and control over reproductive cells. In collaborative forms of reproduction that build on IVF-technologies, such as egg and embryo donation, and gestational surrogacy, multiple women may variously contribute to conception, gestation/birth, and then legal and social responsibilities for rearing a child, creating intentionally fragmented maternities. Undoing Motherhood examines the implications of such fragmented maternities in the post-IVF reproductive era for generating maternity uncertainty-an increasing cultural ambiguity about what does and should constitute maternity. Undoing Motherhood explores this uncertainty in the social worlds of reproductive medicine and law"--

Undo Motherhood explores the reasons why a significant number of women around the world today regret becoming mothers. The women in this project love their children and are excellent mothers when judged according to society's standards, and yet they hate the oppressive mother role that robbed them of their own existence and suffer through it in silence, feeling it to be the worst mistake they have made. In this book, Diana Karklin combines two narrative languages: her photography and her interviews with women. It is divided into seven chapters: anger, fear, isolation, exhaustion, guilt, resignation and acceptance. The last chapter stresses the importance of accepting regret in order to be able to deal with it in a constructive way without harming the children. Diana chose to present the seven stories from seven different countries as separate booklets - each with a 'closed' cover - in a slipcase, to highlight the loneliness of these mothers trapped in their homes and condemned to silence. As much as Diana would want to see them as a collective voice, the reality is different. ,,An honest, courageous, and radical book that without passing judgement gives a voice to women struggling with the experience of a social role that they do not want, experiencing guilt and the burden of moral expectations. A book that allows us to explore the other dimension of motherhood, a dimension that is always hidden in the shadow. It is necessary to look at motherhood as it is in all its aspects, in order to free it from prejudices, and to present vital options to both mothers and children who find themselves in this situation," --Ana Casas Broda, photographer and author of Kinderwunsch, that explores the complexity of motherhood and the relationship with her two sons.

Gender in Communication: A Critical Introduction embraces the full range of diverse gender identities and expressions to explore how gender influences communication, as well as how communication shapes our concepts of gender for the individual and for society. This comprehensive gender communication book is the first to extensively address the roles of religion, the gendered body, single-sex education, an institutional analysis of gender construction, social construction theory, and more. Throughout the book, readers are equipped with critical analysis tools they can use to form their own conclusions about the ever-changing processes of gender in communication. New to the Third Edition: Current examples in the chapter openers illustrate how a critical gendered lens is necessary and useful by discussing recent events such as Jon Stewart’s critique of the outcry over a J Crew ad, reactions to Serena Williams’s body, photos of a young boy who likes to wear dresses, and the use of Photoshop to create thigh gaps. Updated chapters on voices, work, education, and family reflect major shifts in the state of knowledge. Expanded sections on trans and gender nonconforming reflect changes in language. All other chapters have been updated with new examples, new concepts, and new research. More than 500 new sources have been integrated throughout, and new sections on debates over bathroom bills, intensive mothering, humor, swearing, and Title IX have been added. "His" and "her" pronouns have been replaced with "they" in most cases, even if the reference is singular, in an effort to be more inclusive.

This multidisciplinary volume offers unique perspectives, across the globe and throughout the centuries, on the complexity of the nexus between work and the life course. For industrialized regions, from Germany and Western Europe to China and Japan, it questions the widespread notion of an overall growing working life course instability, since the 1970s. For unindustrialized or industrializing regions, from West Africa to state socialist East Central Europe, as well as for transnational and transcontinental labour migrations, it shows the enormous influence of the extended family and wider kin on individual pathways into and out of work. For early modern Europe, India, and China, and up to twentieth-century state socialism and to current welfare states, it stresses and concretizes the crucial impact of age and gender for both societal labour relations and individual work-related decision making. With all chapters based on original research, the volume reflects a close cooperation between historians, anthropologists, and sociologists. Its multidisciplinary approach finds expression in its methodological plurality, reaching from archival research and sophisticated statistical analyses to biographical interviews and participant observation. This mix allows to grasp the interaction between societal change and individual agency.

In this shocking report, Kimberly Ells tells the story of earth's oldest institution—the family—in a way it has never been told before. The Invincible Family challenges current social doctrines, unmasks the annihilation of womanhood in the name of "women's empowerment," and exposes the efforts of United Nations agencies to advance "sexual rights" for children. The Invincible Family is both a call to arms to defend the most essential human institution in its darkest hour and a rich source of encouragement. Kimberly Ells is a researcher on family policy and has spoken at the United Nations and around the country on international threats to children and the family. A graduate of Brigham Young University, she is married and the mother of five children.

Constanze Volkmann develops an innovative new gender theory labeled doing and undoing gender. Based on empirical findings she examines the highly debated intersection of gender and Islam. The analysis of interviews with various Muslim women unravels the many different ways in which gender is done and undone. Especially with regard to potential gender hierarchies, the results reveal that the category ‘gender’ is irrelevant to many Muslim women and is even used as a means to foster their status and power as women. This book makes a substantial contribution to a differentiated social debate at eye level with Muslim women.

In Mothering through Precarity Julie A. Wilson and Emily Chivers Yochim explore how working- and middle-class mothers negotiate the difficulties of twenty-first-century mothering through their everyday engagement with digital media. From Facebook and Pinterest to couponing, health, and parenting websites, the women Wilson and Yochim study rely upon online resources and communities for material and emotional support. Feeling responsible for their family's economic security, these women often become "mamapreneurs," running side businesses out of their homes. They also feel the need to provide for their family's happiness, making successful mothering dependent upon economic and emotional labor. Questioning these standards of motherhood, Wilson and Yochim demonstrate that mothers' work is inseparable from digital media as it provides them the means for sustaining their families through such difficulties as health scares, underfunded schools, a weakening social safety net, and job losses.