Mother’s Day Round-Up

Mother’s Day comes with a lot of complicated thoughts and feelings for many of us, so we thought we’d do a special round-up of must-read articles on moms, motherhood, and the messages surrounding Mother’s Day.

• GF co-editor Lyndsay Kirkham wrote at RoleReboot about how the messages around mothering and Mother’s Day deny the deep ambivalence many moms feel about parts of parenting, by implying motherhood = “unconditional, unquestionable ‘love’ of our children.”
• Anne Theriault at The Belle Jar has an amazing post on Mother’s Day, acknowledging the many kinds of mothers who struggle with material issues, as well as social pressures, and whose realities aren’t always heard in Mother’s Day marketing.
• “Mommy/Daddy” at GUTS Magazine is Kiersten Holden-Ada’s exploration of the way her gender dysphoria and fluidity has played into her motherhood – it’s also accompanied by some incredible photos of Kiersten breastfeeding as Max – her masculine presentation.
• At the Nation, Valerie Bell, mother of Sean Bell, who was killed by NYPD officers in 2006, writes about why she’s marching on Mother’s Day, “to demand an end to this cycle of violence, this society of institutionalized racism and police militarization.”
• Mother’s Day is a good opportunity to revisit the situation around the gender gap in household chores. The Council for Contemporary Families reports on the slow but steady changes towards a more equal division of household labour in heterosexual households.
• How do teen moms feel around Mother’s Day, when it also comes during Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month? Gloria Malone writes at RH Reality Check about how to value teen moms on Mother’s Day and how to fight unintended pregnancy without shaming them.
• On a celebratory note, The Advocate asks LGBTQ moms what they like best about being parents.
• At The Root, Erin E. Evans lists her 15 favourite black TV moms.
• If you are looking to celebrate your mom today, consider sending one of the amazing, free e-cards put together by Forward Together’s Mama’s Day campaign, celebrating moms of all races, genders, sexual orientations, incomes, and immigration statuses.