Enacting Motherhood Online: How Facebook and Mommy Blogs Reinforce White Ideologies of the New Momism

Charity L Gibson

doi:10.20897/femenc/5912

Abstract

Mommy blogs and social media platform Facebook are two ways that 21st century mothers today share their experiences digitally via the ‘momosphere’. However, this is often another form in which white femininity is reproduced in popular culture. (Socially privileged white women have the most monetary resources, leisure time, education, and jobs encouraging or requiring the use of technology, resulting in their being the most technology fluent.) In many ways, such writings continue the trend of ‘intensive mothering’, which is Sharon Hays’ widely adopted term for a woman whose identity revolves around her children. It is also similar to what Susan Douglas and Meredith Michaels call the ‘new momism’. White notions of mother-guilt and fear of mother-blame are countered by attempts to perform the good mother role online and seek validation. Especially mothers lacking in a meaningful community of friends or family gravitate toward this artificial online community. While progress has begun in mothers feeling validated to share their private maternal lives in public realms, there is still work to be done regarding how women feel they can and cannot represent their maternal selves. Unless mothers learn to deconstruct mainstream ideologies of motherhood, they will continue to uphold them in their online personas.

Highlights

Many 21st century mothers seek to publicise their maternal identity online, often popularly referenced as the ‘momosphere’
While emphasis on celebrating maternity can be positive, especially as social media gives voice to mothers who may not consider themselves writers, it may be another form of white femininity reproducing itself in popular culture, as socially sanctioned online personas of motherhood tend to follow white cultural norms
Stephanie Hartzell traces the history of expectations and enactments of maternal perfection, “[n]ormative constructions of ‘good motherhood’ have historically been articulated with a white, middle-class formation...only white middle-class mothers are able to perform the type of nurturing articulated to ‘good motherhood’” (Hartzell, 2017: 65). Such enactments of good motherhood continue on Facebook when women accustomed to performing intensive mothering or the new momism continue this pattern of assumption online

Summary

Introduction

Many 21st century mothers seek to publicise their maternal identity online, often popularly referenced as the ‘momosphere’. Mommy blogs and social media platforms such as Facebook are at least two digital outlets through which women today seek to share their experiences.

Results

Conclusion