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

Fisher-Wirth, Ann

Ann Fisher- Wirth 
Devotions 
Every night, every morning, she holds 
her finger beneath the baby's nostril 
and waits for the warm slide of breath 
across her finger, the moist, infinitesimal 
fluttering. She hangs prostrate on a sign: 
a grunt, a fart, that sweet involuntary sucking 
where the lower lip vanishes. Fit rises 
and falls, $'it rises and falls. . . She cannot 
believe the child will live. She watches 
her daughter's chest, the small waves 
of her b rea th ing  
It's 1973. They're so poor 
it's a crisis when she breaks a jar of honey. 
A lemon tree spreads at their bedroom window, 
and at night, around the patio the young 
husband made, driving to the chaparral 
for stones then lugging them back 
in the old VW van, bamboo groans with growing. 
Let's not speak ofwhat's wrong between them, 
this husband who's so anxious and thin 
he can suck his belly like a cavern 
to his backbone, this wife who stayed in bed 
all spring, scarcely daring to lift her head 
every time the spotting started, since that day 
in the mountains at four months when she bled 
and the nurse at the emergency clinic 
told her, Yup, I heard of a woman who woke 
after a week of safety and the whole 
bed was a puddle of blood. 
Let's just say poverty 
and terror can break a marriage. 
Let's not speak of the sorrow 
this child and her sister and brother 
will inherit; instead, listen to the story 
their mother tells them, how all the babies 
line up in the sky by the baby ladder, 
and slide down when they hear their future 
parents say, This one.. . This one.. . This one... 
How they are the chosen babies of all the world. 
338 1 Volume 8, Numbers 1,2 


English

Devotions

Cox, Suzanne M.

Bridging Attachment Theory and Attachment Parenting with Feminist Methods of Inquiry

Frischmuth, Silke

Book Reviews 
Mother Outlaws 
Theories and Practices of Empowered 
Mothering 
Andrea O'Reilly, ed. 
Toronto: Women's Press, 2003 
Reviewed by Silke Frischmuth 
Following Toni Morrison's advice to "write the books that I wanted to read" 
(3), Andrea O'Reilly has assembled essays-previously ~ublished in theJournal 
ofthe Associationfor Research on Mothering and her own edited books-in a 
volume for use in courses on mothering and motherhood. Mother Outlaws is a 
significant contribution to the theory on empowered mothering and helps fill 
a gap in theoretical works on this subject. 
O'Reilly takes up the key distinction that Adrienne Rich makes between 
the patriarchal institution of motherhood that is oppressive for women, and a 
women-centered style of child-rearing that empowers women. O'Reilly con- 
tends that mothers, in order to experience mothering as empowering, have to 
separate themselves from the ideal of the "good" mother and become "bad" 
mothers, or "mother outlaws." Mother outlaws are women who raise their 
children in opposition to the normative motherhood ideal of the always present 
and self-sacrificing mother. 
The book consists of five sections that cover the following topics: femi- 
nist mothering; lesbian mothering; African-American mothering; mothers 
and daughters; and mothers and sons. In her excellent introduction, O'Reilly 
traces the history of normative mothering practices in North America since 
World War 11, and points out that motherhood is a cultural practice rather 
than a biological function (5). She discusses the ideology and practice of 
intensive mothering that emerged in the 1980s, with its focus on the per- 
ceived needs of the child. The author emphasizes that the "discourse of 
intensive mothering becomes oppressive not because children have needs, but 
Journal ofthe Association for Research on Mothering 1 357 
Book Reviews 
because we, as a culture, dictate that only the biological mother is capable of 
mlling them" (11). Empowered mothering, in contrast, "recognizes that 
both mothers and children benefit when the mother lives her life and prac- 
tices mothering from a position of agency, authority, authenticity, and au- 
tonomy" (12). In  each of the five sections, the essays explore topics related to 
alternative mothering styles. They show how women of all races, classes, and 
sexual orientations are exposed to, accept, resist, or negotiate the dominant 
discourse of "sacrificial motherhood." 
I was especially interested in the essays on African-American mothering 
which construct a mothering style that differs completely from the white 
middle-class ideal of intensive biological mothering. The essays show how 
traditional African-American women-centered mothering, community, and 
other-mothering benefit women, children, and communities alike. 
Another essay that stands out is Paula Caplan's "Don't Blame Mother - 
Then and Now." Caplan discusses the mother blame inherent in the dominant 
psychological discourse and how it characterizes anything related to mothers as 
pathological and devoid of value. She uncovers the scapegoat hnction that 
mothers in North American society, assigning them the blame for such 
social problems as crime. Her harsh criticism of psychoanalysis, and the ways 
in which psychiatrists decide who is "normal," is refreshing for every mother 
torn between her interest in education or paid work and her alleged duty to live 
only for her children. 
This first Canadian volume of scholarly work on empowered mothering is 
- 
a must for anyone interested in the contradictions that underlie the experience 
of mothering and the institution of motherhood. 
The Grand Permission 
New Writings on the Poetics of Motherhood 
Patricia Dienstfrey and Brenda Hillman, eds. 
Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2003 
Reviewed by Teresa Ottewell 
Patricia Dienstfrey and Brenda Hillman's anthology, The Grand Permission: 
New Writings on Poetics andMotherhood, is a compelling collection ofwomen's 
writing that belongs on the bookshelf of every mother who yearns to find ways 
to "get through the day with an intact sense of self." The Grand Permission 
speaks succinctly to the experiences of women attempting to maintain a 
creative, soul-affirming existence amidst the conflicting time and emotional 
358 1 Volume 8, Numbers 1,2 


Mother Outlaws: Theories and Practices of Empowered Mothering

Of Trinket, of Mary 
When you stand by the radio after 
the Sailor spurns you, and because it is 
silent, the cathedral empty, you know 
the Christ child has been born, your hand wanders 
to that absence as if He  seeks the thin blue 
milk, the veined orb beneath the cloth of stars- 
As your Sailor sleeps his brutal sleep you speak 
of the Christ child, his blind sweet hands 
fumbling beneath the robes of his mother, 
and Trinket, I had that. Rocking or 
in bed, or carrying my babies beneath 
my pink ruana as I walked hours 
and hours through the summer woods, their lips 
pulling down the starry river, I had that. 
Journal afthe Association for Research on Mothering ( 349 
Detailjoin "Stop the Hurt," by A. Bel lu~ 1 991. 
Children's Aid Foundation, Toronto. Photo: Joe Paczuski 
350 / Volume 8, Numbers 1.2 


Of Trinket, of Mary

Raccoons, A History 
We watched him last summer by flashlight, 
moonlight, sharp paws flickering, 
thick-furred body anxious and upright- 
Quick, quick, he'd dive at the cat food, 
then feint and check for danger. Now it's January, 
raining, death swells in the walls- 
he must have come home to die last fall, 
slunk off into the crawl space. 
First we noticed the sweetness, 
the something-not-quite-clean here. 
Was it a squirrel, a mouse? we wondered. 
Weeks passed, and it didn't diminish- 
Could we take the boards off? No, too old, 
they would splinter. And we didn't know 
for certain where the dead thing was. 
So my husband climbed on to the roof 
to shovel ten pounds of quicklime into the crawl space- 
and found the other raccoon, the little female. 
Shivering and scrawny, 
she tried to squeeze into the hole, 
but he blocked it with his body. 
H e  said, "She looked sad. She turned away." 
Last spring they were born in the walls, 
where my daughter slept in the guest room bed. 
We heard them scrabbling, squeaking. 
"It's beasts," I said, "are they dying?" 
But she laughed like she laughed when she was little- 
"Mom, listen to them, they're snuggling, they're happy." 
They grew and climbed out from the roof, 
played with their mother and dug through the compost, 
pawed at the screen on the kitchen window. 
We  loved them. Then the big one 
Journal ofthe Association for Research on Mothering / 343 
Ann Fisher- Wirth 
started to fight the female, scratching and snarling. 
Plenty of food for both of them, 
but he'd snap and slash till she cowered on the deck 
with her one filched piece of cat food. 
Sometime in the fall, the mother vanished. 
For the big one and the female, was it sickness? Poison? 
-January, raining, first came the stench, 
then quicklime dusting down from between the beaded boards, 
then snow, and the smell diminished. 
Now lime-floured flies 
drawn forth by the warmth of the kitchen 
dot the walls, caress the light globes, circle and hover like ghosts, stunned. 
I vacuum them up, they're easy targets, 
but wave after wave they emerge from the door jamb. 
344 1 Volume 8, Numbers 1,2 


Raccoons, A History

O'Reilly, Andrea

Between the Baby and the Bathwater: Some Thoughts on a Mother-Centred Theory and Practice of Feminist Mothering

Leane, Máire

Book Reviews 
getting stuck or failing to get unstuck is a mother's choice and a woman's 
personal failure. 
Reference 
Girow, H. A. 1997. "Rewriting the Discourse of Racial Identity: Towards a 
Pedagogy and Politics ofwhiteness." HarvardEducationalReview 67 (2): 
285-320. 
Abortion and Nation 
The Politics of Reproduction in Contemporary 
Ireland 
Lisa Smyth 
Aldershot: Ashgate, 2005 
Reviewed by Maire Leane 
Abortion and Nation analyzes the ways in which abortion politics have been 
framed and reframed in Ireland over the past two decades. The discussions of 
abortion contained in three key daily newspapers, in parliamentary debates, and 
in the two governmental working-groups established on the topic provide the 
data sources on which Smyth's analysis is based. She argues convincingly that 
a hegemonic construction of Irish nationhood as essentially familial, Catholic, 
traditional, and heterosexual has shaped the nature of abortion debate in 
Ireland and has mitigated against the introduction of a right to reproductive 
choice. 
In chapters four and five, Smyth demonstrates how during the successful 
1983 campaign to introduce a constitutional ban on abortion, abortion was 
framed as a moral/religious issue with the anti-abortion stance constructed as 
representative of the traditional Catholic, familial ethos of the Irish nation. 
Within this frame, concerns for women's rights were marginalized while the 
rights of the foetus were strongly asserted. 
As Smyth's analysis in chapters six and seven reveals, however, the 1992 "X 
case," and the outpouring of rage and compassion it generated, forced a 
reappraisal of this anti-abortion stance. "X," a fourteen-year-old girl pregnant 
as a result ofrape, was prohibited by the Irish courts from travelling to England 
to procure an abortion. A subsequent Supreme Court decision permitted " X  
to leave the country on the grounds that she was suicidal and that there was a 
substantial risk to her life. Smyth argues that following the "X case" press 
coverage ofthe abortion issue constructed the State as repressive. Furthermore, 
Journal ofthe Association for Research on Mothering ( 3 71 
Book Reviews 
anti-abortion moral absolutism was replaced by considerations of the complex 
realities of abortion, and increasing press space was given to a reproductive 
rights discourse. Smyth's analysis of the parliamentary debate surrounding the 
"X case" and subsequent official responses to it reveals, however, an official 
reframing of abortion as a medical issue distinct from a moral/religious issue, 
and a political failure to engage with more complex understandings of abortion. 
Within this context, the reproductive rights discourse, which gained ground 
following the 'X case," became marginalized as pro-abortion groups adopted 
the pragmatic strategy of arguing on the basis of women's needs for medical 
services as distinct from their right to make choices. 
The outcome of this reframing of abortion was evidenced in the publica- 
tion of the Protection of Human Life in Pregnancy Bill in 2002. This proposed 
legislation allowed for abortion in the case of risk to a woman's life, rather than 
risk of self-destruction. A constitutional referendum reflecting this proposed 
legislation was rejected by a majority of less than one per cent in March 2002. 
Thus, after two decades of debate, a woman's right to abortion in Ireland exists 
only in the context of a serious medical threat to her life. 
Smyth concludes that the various framings of abortion politics in Ireland 
since 1983 reflect an ongoing connection between abortion access and a politics 
of nationhood. Her reading of official responses to abortion-as a struggle to 
maintain a distinctive national identity while simultaneously meeting the 
standard of rights and compassion expected of a modern democratic nation- 
state-is original and exciting. Chapter One, which deals with the history of 
Irish abortion politics, and chapter two, which reviews feminist positions on 
abortion, are especially accessible to a general audience and could be read on a 
stand-alone basis. Overall, this work makes a valuable contribution to the 
existing body of material on abortion in Ireland and will engage readers 
interested in abortion, politics, sociology, or cultural studies. 
A Lot to Learn 
Girls, Women and Education in the 20th Century 
Helen Jefferson LenskyJ 
Toronto: Women's Press, 2005 
Reviewed by Dorothy Lander 
The appeal of this book, which author Helen Jefferson Lenskyj reveals on the 
first page of her Introduction, is its blend of biography and autobiography 
written as social history, and the opportunities it offers for comparing Lenskyj's 
mother's life and education with her own, and for comparing Australian and 
Canadian contexts of schooling and educational activism, especially anti- 
372 1 Volume 8, Numbers 1,2 


Abortion and Nation: The Politics of Reproduction in Contemporary Ireland

Aronson, Pamela

"Iraq is a Small Purple Planet:" Feminist Mothering During Wartime

Silva, Dorsía Smith

Book Reviews 
story, including the absence of both formal and informal supports for new 
mothers, and the systemic hostility faced by mothers whose children present 
challenges that cannot easily be solved. Ideally, Bacchi will use this memoir as 
a starting point for further analysis into the issues hinted at within the text. 
Despite this criticism, Fear of Food is a moving and well-paced text that will 
resonate strongly for many readers. 
Adopting Maternity: 
White Women Who Adopt Transracially or 
Transnationally 
Nora Rose Moosnick 
Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 2004 
Reviewed by Dorsia Smith Silva 
In AdoptingMaternity: White Women WhoAdopt Transracially or Transna tionally, 
independent scholar Nora Rose Moosnick examines how the social construc- 
tions of race, gender, and class are connected to White women who engage in 
transracial or transnational adoptions. Focusing on interviews of a focus group 
of 22 White adoptive mothers, she interrogates their different adoptive pro- 
cesses based on the race of their adoptive child: White, Asian, Black, and 
Biracial. The text, divided in five chapters, aims to gives readers a look into the 
multifaceted process of the adoptive experience and brings the narratives of 
White adoptive mothers into the public sphere. 
In the first two chapters, Moosnick gives a brief overview of the historical 
perception of transracial and transnational adoption. She calls attention to the 
protest of the National Association of Black Social Workers during the 1970s 
when they challenged Black adoptions as "cultural genocide" (2) and how social 
workers "redefined" the ethnicity of Black and Biracial to make them more 
appealing to White adoptive families (3). According to Moosnick, racial 
attitudes have since changed; yet, there is still a greater preference among 
White adoptive mothers for "lighter skinned children (13). 
Moosnick also sets the stage for raising the critical issue ofwhether White 
adoptive mothers who participate in transracial or transnational adoptions are 
victims andlor victimizers. She finds that these mothers are socially perceived 
as saving the adoptive "child from the biological mother who is understood to 
be neither morally nor financially capable" (13). However, she also becomes a 
part of the power hierarchy, which gives greater privilege to White adoptive 
families because they are socially perceived as more fit and "legitimate" (24). 
The third and fourth chapters explicate the role race plays in adoption. In 
Journal ofthe Associationfor Research on Mothering 1 377 
Book Reviews 
particular, White children are "the hardest babies to acquire and Black ones the 
easiest" (55). Asian adoptions can also be lengthy, especially if White adoptive 
mothers go abroad. Moosnick also notes that adopting Black and Biracial 
children is the most difficult because of the need to consider the child's racial 
identity and societal prejudice. She gives several accounts from the participants 
of the study group, which describe how their adoptive child experienced racist 
encounters. For many of the White adoptive mothers, they neutralized the 
racial incidents and dismissed the significance of race. Moosnick describes this 
dismissal as the White adoptive mother's beliefin color-blindness and promo- 
tion of social equality. She overlooks, though, the examination of how White 
adoptive mothers disregard race because of their unwillingness to acknowledge 
its importance. 
The last chapter recaps the text's premise about the interconnections of 
race, class, and gender with White adoptive women and transracial and 
transnational adoptions. While Moosnick does critically engage the issues of 
race, more in-depth analysis is neededwith how class andgender factor into this 
distinct adoptive situation. She speculates in the Conclusion about these gaps 
in the text and how further research would enhance our knowledge of 
transracial and transnational adoptions. 
378 1 Volume 8, Numbers 1,2 


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

Not a member yet

Devotions

Bridging Attachment Theory and Attachment Parenting with Feminist Methods of Inquiry

Mother Outlaws: Theories and Practices of Empowered Mothering

Of Trinket, of Mary

Raccoons, A History

Between the Baby and the Bathwater: Some Thoughts on a Mother-Centred Theory and Practice of Feminist Mothering

Abortion and Nation: The Politics of Reproduction in Contemporary Ireland

"Iraq is a Small Purple Planet:" Feminist Mothering During Wartime

Adopting Maternity: White Women Who Adopt Transracially or Transnationally

My Son the Feminist, A First-Rate Mom

1,574

1,824