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

Johnson, Elizabeth M.

English

Mothering in the Poems of Sharon Olds: The Choice Not to Abuse

Reich, Jennifer A.

Maternal Sin and Salvation: Child Protective Services and the Policing of Mothers’ Sexual Behavior

Bode, Rita

Ten Good Seconds of Silence

Rye, Gill

Our Mother's Spirits: Great Writers on the Death of Mothers and the Grief of Men, An Anthology

Lindsay, Gail M.

Book Reviews 
ofwomen as mothers-magnified when the women are not formally subordi- 
nated to husbands-makes such odd national passions possible. 
Islands of Women and Amazons: 
Representations and Realities 
Batya Weinbaum 
Austin: University of Texas Press, 1999 
Reviewed by Gail M. Lindsay 
In Islands of Women and Amazons, a reader looks over Batya Weinbaum's 
shoulder as she delves into history, literature, popular culture, folklore, and 
personal experience to inquire into the feminist meaning of myths and images 
ofwomen. I imagine Weinbaum as an Amazon herself, in search ofcommunity 
and meaning in contemporary American society. Archetypal theory informs 
Weinbaum's study of the history, mythology, science fiction, culture, and 
anthropology of societies of women, often located on islands. 
Weinbaum hypothesizes that Amazon archetypes are used in three ways: 
to reclaim women's lost power; to keep women within patriarchy and reverse 
the gains of the women's movement; or to build links between Amazons and 
contemporary women's lives and spirituality. Weinbaum examines the use and 
development of the Amazon archetype throughout history to the present. She 
shows how Amazons have been used in writing as a symbol for women's lives 
and to support or deny women's autonomy. 
Beginning with Greek legends, Weinbaum traces the Amazon archetype 
in women who are lesbian, black, connected to nature, their bodies, maternity, 
and matriarchy. Weinbaum notes, "those who represent Amazons reveal 
themselves and their own social context" (60). There is no absolute truth or 
single representation of Amazon women. A particular strength of this book is 
its contextualized analysis of Amazon scholarship across history, disciplines, 
geographic settings, and forms of creative expression (dance, poetry, oral 
narratives). Weinbaum also argues persuasively that earth-based, female- 
centred cultures had to be subdued by patriarchal Christianity. 
Weinbaum offers a powerful analysis of oral lamentation - women's 
response to being left by men who go off to war - in a variety of societies. She 
examines the world ofAmazon women: how women's collectives were formed, 
where they lived, how they bore and raised children, how they related to men 
and boys, how they related to one another, to Mother Earth and Goddess 
figures. Weinbaum moves across European myths and archeology to Columbus's 
journals of North America, Marco Polo's journals of the Far East, and Celtic 
214 ( Volume 4, Number 1 
Book Reviews 
myths of Avalon. She takes us on a fascinating journey through ancient myths 
and Renaissance scholarship. 
Finally, Weinbaum takes us to the IslaMujeres (Island ofwomen) off the 
coast of Yucatan. Here, she shares her daily life as diviner, graduate student, 
pregnant woman, and later as mother to illustrate the cultural collision of 
"primitive folk wisdom" and the "advanced Western mind." Weinbaum 
claims, "we project a transference onto the island's opaque open door from our 
own need to compensate for loss in Modern society" (161). Readers learn how 
Weinbaum and the indigenous people relate: she comes from the culture the 
islanders envy and mimic, while she is searching for what predates tourism and 
the stage-managed, packaged local culture. These oppositions come together 
in her .experience of childbirth where she is attended by a senora midwife, a 
British woman doctor, and a local young woman educated to be a nurse. 
Although she seeks guidance from her midwife, Weinbaum's fear and lack of 
knowledge cause her to turn to the British doctor during labour. She 
acknowledges that we are "part and parcel ofwhat we study" (234) and finally 
comes to see how Amazons and islands of women are rendered invisible. 
Weinbaum concludes that in the "unhinged culture" of America, people are 
searching for "an Eden of sustained nurturance" (239). She invites her female 
readers to create their own stories of Amazons, to deepen their sense of being 
embodied, generative, and spiritual women. 
Mothers and Motherhood: 
Readings in American History 
Rima D. Apple and Janet Golden, eds. 
Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1997 
Reviewed by Donna Varga 
Mothers U Motherhood Readings in American His to  y brings together a compi- 
lation of social and cultural writings on the issue of mothering as constructed 
and lived. Oftwenty-five chapters, all but three have been previously published; 
with one exception, the chapters were first publishedin the 1980s or 1990s.The 
readings have been organized into four thematic sections: the social construc- 
tion of motherhood; motherhood and reproduction; social and cultural set- 
tings; and public policy. Within each section, contributions cover a variety of 
issues and focus on a range ofhistorical periods. For example, the section on the 
social construction of motherhood includes a chapter on breastfeeding and 
Journal ofthe Association for Research on Mothering 1 215 


Islands of Women and Amazons: Representations and Realities

Hemenway, Robin L. E.

Surrogates and Other Mothers: The Debates Over Assisted Reproduction

Hampton, Moriah

Having Faith: An Ecologist's Journey to Motherhood

Woidat, Caroline

Rites of Passage

Jeremiah, Emily

Troublesome Practices: Mothering, Literature and Ethics

Jordan, Nané

Nane Jordan 
and Out 
in 
and 
out 
in 
and 
out 
in and out, 
and in and out and 
in and out and in and out and in 
and out 
and in. 
Journal ofthe Association for Research on Mothering 1 133 
Nane'Jordan 
Touching, 
my baby's head at 
birth, 
she is emerging, 
stretching me beyond 
always, 
beyond always and even wider open than I ever wanted 
to stretch, 
I am stretching so wide open, 
I am bursting with this life. 
Liquids pour forth from inside 
of me, 
down my legs and onto 
my feet 
the bed 
the floor, 
liquids with familiar deep 
smells 
to the midwife, 
as blood 
amniotic fluid 
134 1 Volume 4, Number l 
and even shit 
mix 
to exacting proportions of 
alchemical wisdom, 
the pungence of damp earth 
and acrid greens. 
in 
and 
out 
and 
in and out 
and in and out and in 
and out 
and in 
and out. 
My baby's head emerges, 
fingertips touching 
I reach around the wet roundness of it, 
a ball between my legs, 
the round earth between my legs, 
Journal ofthe Association for Research on Mothering 1 135 
Nani Jordan 
how 
is this possible? 
and out and out and out 
and out. 
Her body slips out and lies 
there, 
I lift her to 
my chest 
my breast 
or is it my soul? 
in a moment of 
forever. 
136 1 Volume4, Number 1 


and Out