Outlaw(ing) motherhood: a theory and politic of maternal empowerment for the twenty-first century [Paper in: Focus on Mothering.]

On the contrary, if freed from motherhood, mothering could be experienced as a site of empowerment and as a location of social change if, to use Rich's words, women became 'outlaws from the institution of motherhood.'3 However, while Of Woman Born interrupted the patriarchal narrative...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Hecate 2010-05, Vol.36 (1/2), p.17-29
Main Author: Andrea O'Reilly
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activists
Children
Feminism
Gender equity
Gender essentialism
Motherhood
Mothers
Narratives
New momism
Parents
Patriarchal motherhood
Political aspects
Power (Philosophy)
Sex role
Social aspects
Social change
Social philosophy
Space
Women
Women's rights
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Summary:On the contrary, if freed from motherhood, mothering could be experienced as a site of empowerment and as a location of social change if, to use Rich's words, women became 'outlaws from the institution of motherhood.'3 However, while Of Woman Born interrupted the patriarchal narrative of motherhood and cleared a space for the development of counter narratives of mothering, it did not generate a discourse of outlaw motherhood or maternal empowerment. [...] while much has been published on patriarchal motherhood since Rich's inaugural text- documenting why and how patriarchal motherhood is harmful, indeed unnatural, for mothers and children alike- little has been written on the possibility of empowered mothering or outlaw motherhood.
ISSN:0311-4198
1839-4213