An exploration of social media-imposed pressure on new mothers: How
the supposed safe havens of online mommy groups have become rife with
aggression and groupthink.
Many mothers today turn to social media for parenting advice, joining
online mothers' groups on Facebook and elsewhere. But the communities
they find in these supposed safe havens can be rife with aggression,
peer pressure, and groupthink--insisting that only certain practices are
"best," "healthiest," "safest" (and mandatory). In this book, Jessica
Clements and Kari Nixon debunk the myth of "optimal motherhood"--the
idea that there is only one right answer to parenting dilemmas, and that
optimal mothers must pursue perfection. In fact, Clements and Nixon
write, parenting choices are not binaries, and the scientific findings
touted by mommy groups are neither clear-cut nor prescriptive.
Clements and Nixon trace contemporary ideas of optimal motherhood to the
nineteenth-century "Cult of True Womanhood," which viewed women in terms
of purity and dignity. Both mothers themselves, they joined a variety of
Facebook mothers' groups to explore what goes on in online mommy wars.
They examine debates within these groups over CDC recommendations about
alcohol during pregnancy, birth plans that don't go according to plan,
breastfeeding vs. formula, co-sleeping and "crying it out," and
"tweaking" pregnancy test kits to discern pregnancy as early as
possible. Clements and Nixon argue for an empowered motherhood, freed
from the impossible standards of the optimal.
