From Publishers WeeklyIn an enlightening, disarming survey of motherhood across the centuries, Thurer draws on feminist theory, psychoanalysis and cultural history to show that each society has its own norms, beliefs and expectations for mothering. She finds that pervasive misogyny and female infanticide subverted ancient Greek motherhood, while in the Middle Ages, fierce maternal love--personified by the archetype of the Madonna selflessly devoted to her Son--coexisted with child abandonment and widespread inhumane treatment of children. The "good mother"--properly married, subservient, modest, forgoing her own needs and desires to rear her children--was invented during the Protestant Reformation, asserts Thurer, a Boston clinical psychologist. Encouraging a diversity of mothering styles, she suggests that mothers today can be personally ambitious without endangering their children and advocates a family model based on "shared sacrifice," with new forms of public and private support to ease the burden of mothering. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.From Kirkus sPsychologist Thurer offers a historical smorgasbord of societal attitudes toward mothering, from the paleolithic period to the present. She views the Stone Age as a golden period for women: The prevalent divinities were powerful, complex mother goddesses, revered for their seemingly magical ability to bear children. By 600 bc, the patriarchy's ascendancy signaled the beginning of a long downward spiral for the status of mothers and, by extension, of children. In classical Athens, misogyny was particularly virulent; women were marginalized, and infanticide appeared to be the preferred form of family planning. Medieval and Renaissance Europeans venerated images of the Virgin Mary and her divine child, but in real life, deaths of infants (particularly girls) due to neglect and abandonment reached epidemic proportions. Throughout much of later European history, women who fit the mold of the submissive, fertile wife were idealized, albeit patronized, while unwed mothers were vilified and sometimes put to death. By the early 20th century, as medical advances made survival of birth more likely for both mother and child, ``scientific motherhood'' arrived. A stream of manuals offered advice on raising physically and emotionally healthy children, paving the way for psychological theories that blamed women for all their offspring's emotional ills. Recently, though, says Thurer, the image of mothers has been revitalized by feminist authors who portray them as loving but with a realistic range of emotions. Mom is finally becoming a person. Many of Thurer's conclusions, particularly those concerning early history, seem open to question, based as they are on scanty evidence. And there are some distracting factual lapses. (The Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary means that from the time she was conceived she was without original sin--not that she was conceived asexually.) Nonetheless, Thurer effectively demonstrates how transient any one view of mothering really is. -- Copyright 1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. A refreshing, eye-opening look at the history of motherhood. San Francisco ChronicleA comprehensive treatment of motherhood has been long overdue, and this fits the bill, in spades. Susan Brownmiller, author of Against Our Will and FemininityA positive, sensible, and readable history directed to women in the throes of the experience . . . designed to reinforce Ms. Thurers assertion that the modern mother cannot possibly do worse than her predecessors.The New York Times Book A history from the point of view of mothers and children is a rarity. And this one is rich, far-reaching, and fierce, as well as clever and accessible. From the Ancient Goddess to the Holy Virgin to the Devouring Mother to the Doctor Spock mother and now the Activist Mother, we discover, despite the myths, that she was the childbearer and rearer and was usually good enough not to have suffered the slings and arrows of misogyny. E. M. Broner, author of A Weave of Women and The TellingPsychologist Shari L. Thurer unmasks the mythmakers . . . but [her] own advice is the most sound. The only good mother is a woman content with herself. So lets throw out our unattainable ideals about mothering and worry first about the status of women!Ellen Chesler, author of Women of Valor: Margaret Sanger and the Birth Control Movement in AmericaThe Myths of Motherhood is an across-the-board, much-needed tribute to the well-being of the at-home mother that looks honestly at her frustrations, concerns and joys.San Francisco ChronicleA fascinating history of 30,000 years of mothering.New WomanAnyone interested in societal attitudes toward Mom, Dad and the kids, fromthe Stone Age on, will be fascinated.The Seattle TimesThurer effectively demonstrates how transient any one view of mothering is.Kirkus sAn enjoyable and highly informative account of the mostly lamentable fate of the institution of American motherhood . . . intriguing and consciousness raising.Sophie Freud, MSW, Ph.D. author of My Three Mothers Other PassionsShari Thurer gives us a deeply satisfying book. While the information in it excites the brain, the insights soothe at the heart. I am giving copies of this book to my children, my parents, my students, my friends, and, in ultimate affirmation, myself.Faye J. Crosby, author of Juggling: The Unexpected Advantages of Balancing Career and Home for Women and Their Families where can i read childrens books online for free Myths of Motherhood: How Culture Reinvents the Good Mother
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy Customercame exactly as expected0 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Myths on MotherhoodBy Jonathan M. TranAn overall solid book on motherhood. It is written from the author's perspective and I used it throughout my global humanities class on motherhood.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. An interesting, provocative and freeing view of motherhoodBy CassandraI read this book some years after its 1994 publication date. Because of that- which is of course through no fault of the author- much of the material in the book was not new to me, as similar ideas on motherhood have been explored in various other books articles since 1994. This does not at all detract from the quality of the book, and perhaps it would be a good idea for the author to publish an updated edition to include the changes in our perception of motherhood since the mid-90s.For those who haven't read this yet and are interested in buying it: Shari Thurer's book is a challenging, enlightening, and very readable exploration of motherhood through the ages. She looks at motherhood as the culturally defined concept it is, and traces the changes it's gone through, from the Stone Age until the mid-90s. There's a focus on US motherhood in the latest chapters of the books, which is a slight negative, but not one to dwell on.Thurer starts from the assumption that today's view of motherhood (and this continues, sadly, since the 90s) has to do with mother-love as a 'moral imperative', putting unrealistic and unfair pressure on new mums to be as perfect as possible, at the expense of their own needs and desires. Shari Thurer's bottom line is an important one: there's nothing natural and timeless about the way we mother our children, and consequently, the way we mother (or shall I say, parent) our children today can be taken with a grain of salt. I feel it's an important message which sadly remains overlooked as we women tend to put ourselves under too much pressure to raise our kids the 'right way' and very often feel guilty, much more than men do, when our performance falls below par. For this message alone (not in itself a highly original one, I should add, but one worth repeating) this book is certainly worth reading.In more detail: Thurer explores the mythical power of mothers, encapsulated in their biological ability to get pregnant and give birth, and the way this power has been used against them through the ages. The experience of mothers as human beings with their own personalities and needs, often in conflict with their children's needs, is something that has been consistently overlooked throughout history and continues largely to do so despite the advances in recent decades.Thurer starts from Old Stone Age mothers where, she argues, mother love was seen as ordinary and in no way did it lead to a devaluation of women. Rather, women's capacity to reproduce led (from what we can speculate) to a worship of life-giving women as creatures linked to nature and thus revered. She moves on to the neolithic and explores the way there are signs of what we would now call maternal attachment then. With the later establishment of patriarchy and its link to religion, women's and mother's place (Thurer argues) gradually fell and then fell some more. She explores interesting historical periods such as the Sumerian era, the ancient Egyptian notions of motherhood (and the role of wet nursing then) and the cruel and difficult structures of motherhood in Phoenician times. She moves to motherhood in ancient Hebrew society with its early idea of the good housewife as the good woman and the consequent strict sexual codes of that time, existing side by side, however, with children seen as precious. Lots of interesting material is covered in the chapter on classical Greek Roman motherhood, with the very high rate of infanticide and 'exposing' of young children and the consequent indifferent and distant way of parenting children. Thurer links misogyny in different societies with the ability of women to mother in a warmer way, arguing convincingly that the more misogyny there exists in a society, the more difficult women find it to mother freely and engagingly. She moves on to medieval times and the enormous impact of the Madonna at those times, with its emphasis on the pure, asexual, merciful, trustworthy and very good mother. Mary (the Madonna), Thurer argues, has no self, no needs of her own and contributes to the devaluation of motherhood, a view that has been extremely influential in our conceptualization (even today) of motherhood. Finally, after Thurer looks at the Renaissance and early modern times, she concludes with a careful look at modern psychological theories of motherhood and how they too have influenced our view today of what it means to be a mother.Something notable: the threads on witch hunting, wet nursing as well as baby abandonment make for fascinating reading and led me to want to explore these subjects more. These threads run through the book and Thurer usefully looks at how these have evolved through the ages. Each of these 3 topics could make (and has made, in various other publications) a fascinating book just on its own and perhaps Thurer here is trying to do too much, making her book less rigorous and deep in terms of academic value. However, for what it is and for the message it's trying to convey (mainly: don't beat yourselves up too much, mothers!) it's well worth reading.