SOSC 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Adrienne Rich, War Economy, Separate Spheres

• School: York University
• Department: Social Science
• Course: SOSC 1000
• Professor: Terry Conlin

Document Summary

Readings by adrienne rich: mothering versus motherhood. A good mother = patient, nurturing, self-sacrificing, self-less, tender, loving, devoted, caring, kind, attentive to her children needs. Parent magazines show white, heterosexual, able bodied, thirty, married, urban and middle class. 6 years to be a good mother (27-33 aged) Stakes are high for women to be a good mother. Women are judged when they are not a good mother. Patriarchy dictates the lives of women to be a good mother and being else excludes you from society. The meanings we attach to it is culturally mediated. Motherhood changes due to societal and economic changes: the invention of motherhood: from agriculture to urbanization. 4 times in our history where motherhood is changed historically: nomadic to agriculture, 1700s-1800s agriculture to industrial. Children born to be little workers and assets to their parents. Little devils and demons (to make them good) Mother did not engage in mothering as we know it today.