Journal of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement (JMI - York University)

English

Contributor Notes

Young, Vanessa

212         Volume 9, Number 1
As they walk by us they shake their heads and stare, occasionally they will stop 
and ask us personal questions as if it were their business. They seem to think 
that somehow they are better than us because their social status, or that we are 
less of a person because of the decisions that we have made, but let us be clear: 
those were our decisions that we made and they don’t make us less of a person. 
We are mothers just like you. We have the same common goals in life: to give 
our children the best possible life that we can give them, to raise responsible, 
independent, reliable children, to teach our children to love themself for who 
they are and to never be afraid to have their voices heard....we all want the 
best for our children, and we all need help with parenting. None of us were 
given a book carved in stone when our children were born, we are parents, 
we are not perfect. please don’t judge us when our children are acting up at 
the grocery store, all children have their moments even yours. Don’t walk up 
to us and disrespect us, by asking us personal questions, we don’t walk up to 
you and ask you your age, social status, or if your child’s father is still in the 
picture. It’s really not polite. We may be young and still have a lot to learn, 
but learning is an on-going process, it lasts a life time. Maybe next time you 
see us at the park playing in the sandbox with our child, say hi, we can learn 
a lot from each other. 
We are mothers too...
Vanessa Young
Folio
Photo: Joe Paczuski


We are mothers too...

Hill Butler
					, Deidre

The Daughters of Myrtle Baptist Church: Womanist Consciousness in Motion

Nahoney, Katelyn

 Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering         181 
All the ignorance, all the stares
Coming from strangers’ eyes
Looking at you like a bad parent
Because your child cries
You hear the whispers
“Look at her, she’s way too young”
“She already has a child”
You walk by with your head down
As the pain and frustration is piled
Every child gets tired or fussy
And every child cries
But when you’re a young mother, in public
Your confidence dies
I’ve taken the classes and the advice
I’m the best mother I can be
I play with her I expand her mind
But that’s no good … apparently
All we can do is prove them wrong
And do the best to teach our kids
When they grow up to stop the stares
As those strangers once did.
So next time these strangers’ eyes happen to stare
Just ignore the whispers
And smile and nod
And show them you don’t care
Katelyn Nahoney
A Stranger’s Eyes


A Stranger's Eyes

Schalge
					, Susan L.

Rudolph
					, Cynthia E.

Race as Cultural Construction, Race as Social Reality: Mothering for Contradictions and Ambiguities

Schwartz-Bechet
					, reviewed by Barbara

 Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering        275 
Book Reviews
parenting and professing and perhaps thinking outside the box of a full-time 
tenure-track job and traditional home life.
The final galvanizing section focuses on the potential for significant 
cultural change by making parenting more visible, encouraging mothers to 
stop “hiding the baby,” but also aiming to extend the visible constituency of 
academics involved in parenting to encompass fathers, student-parents, step-
parents, foster parents and other caregivers such as those caring for an aging 
parent, an ill partner, or friend. As Bassett suggests recounting the stories of 
academic mothers will provide “a deeper context, a sociological imagination 
that sees the political in the personal, the communal in the private” (12). And 
so this collection inspires me, effectively practising what it preaches by using 
first-person storytelling to change the value system underpinning academic 
culture as a whole to make it less “greedy” in the interests of achieving work-
family balance for all its citizens.
The Development and Treatment of 
Girlhood Aggression
 
Debra J. Pepler, Kirsten C. Madsen, Christopher Webster, Kathryn S. 
Levene, eds. 
Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2005.
Reviewed by Barbara Schwartz-Bechet
Typically, scientific research related to humans is conducted on males and 
the results of the research are translated to the female population. To counter 
this practice, The Development and Treatment of Girlhood Aggression provides 
insight into the most current—although limited—empirical research that 
studies girlhood aggression. Comparative research between male and female 
youth is presented alongside research conducted solely on females. The text 
serves a dual purpose as an exemplary resource for empirical data and as a 
treatment protocol. It studies the origins of girlhood aggression and pro-
gresses toward a continuum of possible treatment methods.
Several central ideas are presented in the five parts of the text. The edi-
tors’ first goal is to provide a resource for current empirical research. Their 
second goal is to identify key components in the identification and treatment 
of aggression in girls, and their third goal is to encourage further research in 
the field. A central theme running throughout the text is the importance of 
relationships and family in the context of girlhood aggression. Each chapter, 
276        Volume 9, Number 2
Book Reviews
written by an expert on the topic under discussion, provides empirical data 
presented in professional but understandable language. An excellent feature of 
the text is the summarizing commentary that concludes each section.
Chapters one and two provide a thorough introduction to aggressive dis-
orders in girls. Chapters three and four, through the description of longitudinal 
empirical studies, discuss physical aggression demonstrated by girls. Chapters 
five and six focus on social environment in the context of aggression in young 
girls and the variables associated with aggression in relationship development. 
Chapters seven and eight, through a description of qualitative and quantitative 
studies and their outcomes, address treatment methodologies. Chapters nine and 
ten look at risk factors in the design of treatment initiatives identified through 
longitudinal studies, with heavy emphasis placed on society and family and 
the impact of aberrant maternal behaviours. The relational aspect of female 
development and the treatment of female aggression differ significantly from 
male development and the treatment of male aggression.
The Development and Treatment of Girlhood Aggression offers practical re-
search and content on a topic in need of further study. A valuable resource, it 
should encourage research and treatment in this field. The book will be useful 
in graduate courses in psychology, social work, and related fields of study.
 
In A Donor Insemination Guide, Marie Mohler and Lacy Frazer draw on their 
personal experiences conceiving their two sons to develop a practical, hands-
on guide for lesbians on the path to parenthood. The authors offer concise, 
straightforward information about all aspects of the donor insemination pro-
cess.
Being so deeply grounded in the authors’ own experience is both this 
book’s greatest advantage, and its greatest disadvantage. Having successfully 
conceived twice using donor insemination, Mohler and Frazer are experts on 
the topic. This comes across throughout the book: they highlight information 
they found helpful or wish they had known as they were going through the 
process—information that other lesbians may find difficult to access elsewhere. 
The book is both practical and encouraging of queer women who are exploring 
A Donor Insemination Guide: 
Written by and for Lesbian Women
Marie Mohler and Lacy Frazer. 
San Francisco: Harrington Park Press, 2002.
Reviewed by Lori Ross


The Development and Treatment of Girlhood Aggression

Chorney, Tatjana

The Development of Judgement and Decision Making in Children and Adolescents

Downe, Pamela J.

Memorializing and Moralizing Young Motherhood in Barbados

Kruger, Katherine

200         Volume 9, Number 1
Being a young mom is not easy. Everyone judges you by statistics—that we 
are never going to make it anywhere in life and it’s true—it’s extremely hard 
to be a young mom. I was only 16 years old when I had my son Noah and I 
still had to finish high school. The only thing I ever worried about before was 
what I was going to wear, but all of a sudden I had this baby who depended 
on me for everything. It wasn’t just getting up and going anymore. I had no 
idea how I was going to raise a child on my own. My name is Kathryn Kruger 
and I am now 17 years old and I am finishing high school and raising my son 
with the help of my parents and I still plan on going to college, just like any 
other teen.
Kathryn Kruger
It’s Not Easy
Phato collage of Katt and Noah


It's Not Easy

Rose
					, Rachel

 Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering          
                  —for Jen and Gabriela
You turned two women into mothers, transformed them entirely, 
reshaped them with the hard tools of love and grief
into women stronger than they had any right to be. 
You changed the world!  Brief spark burning, 
you flared and illuminated for many 
what it means to be human and vulnerable, 
what it means to be open to birth and death. 
Their arms will ache with your absence, 
they will be heartsick without you. 
They spent every moment  they were given loving you. 
They will remember your weight, your perfect shape
in their arms, how they learned to love each other 
through the worst nights, how they held on to one another,
did not let go,
Even when you let go. 
The night your spirit left your body,
they carried you outside
into the garden, into the dark and beautiful
garden. Their arms trembled
knowing you were gone. The night trembled
with birdsong. 
Delilah
Rachel Rose
100         Volume , Number 2
Rachel Rose
But look: all over the world, we still see you! 
Just today in my garden, a golden butterfly rose
to brush the lilacs. At dusk in California, a hummingbird, 
ruby throat pulsing, opened a sunflower
and drank like a small prayer of courage, courage!
You opened us to love
as the sun opens roses to its great shining.


Delilah