Mommie Dearest

Are Mothers Monsters? Revisiting Mommie Dearest

On the surface, "Mommie Dearest" is a portrait of vanity and self-obsession. Dig deeper, and it reflects society’s discomfort with mothers and single women.
kitchen of the future baby boomers

Did Better Household Technology Create the Baby Boomers?

The Baby Boomers have been blamed for everything from economic stagnation to America's current political situation. But where did they come from?
Marguerite Duras and mother

Marguerite Duras on Her Remarkable Mother

Noted novelist and screenwriter Marguerite Duras on how her fictional mothers are all really her own (complicated, difficult, inimitable) mother.
Multi-tasking woman

How the Internet Makes Women’s Work Visible

When I left my fancy corporate job so that I’d have the flexibility to support my autistic son, I was afraid I’d disappear.
Close Up Of Pregnant Woman Smoking Cigarette

Addicted Mothers: Substance Abusers or Child Abusers?

Are mothers with addictions abusive or victims? Our answer almost always involves race and class.
Mary Cassatt's The Young Mother

Maternity, #Meternity, and the Military

Maternity leave as we know it today may have its origins in turn-of-the-century French militarism.
Loving mother and daughter.

The Mother of Mother’s Day

Mother's Day began as one woman's quest to have a public observance of the anniversary of her own mother's passing.
Jim Bauer, via Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7562/15566635873_27d7dc07fe_o_d.jpg, https://www.flickr.com/photos/lens-cap/

Happy Mother’s Day: Kids’ Screen Time is a Feminist Issue

Portable electronics like smartphones and tablets are indispensable tools for mothers and caregivers. Why do we shame them for allowing kids screen time?
A mother and daughter sitting in the living room together.

The One Thing Parents Really Need

The prologue of Catherine Newman’s new parenting memoir Catastrophic Happiness: Finding Joy in Childhood’s Messy Years, evocatively called ...
Children at preschool playing with colorful shapes.

Does Universal Pre-K Help Working Mothers?

Pre-K may help the child, but does it get mothers back to work?