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

Norman, Renee

Renee Norman 
Touching Light 
the rush ofwords has slowed to this: 
a contemplation of light 
as it enters through an open window 
the flap of curtains in the wind 
that rides on a shadow of sunshine 
my daughters arrive 
and the silence where i   robed my thoughts 
with gentle pen strokes 
gives way to their voices 
i have learned to compose within a tempest 
far from light or shadow 
to listen 
in the stillness of the morning 
hold it 
between myself and my children 
Journal ofthe Association for Research on Mothering 1 87 


English

Touching Light

Duquaine-Watson, Jillian

Book Reviews 
The Rhetoric ofMidwlfey is well structured. It  explains the previous and 
current controversies surrounding midwifery and birth in a lucid manner, so 
that those outside the field may easily comprehend the material. The first three 
chapters cover the midwiferydebate in the U.S., rhetorical analysis within these 
midwifery debates, and the rhetorical history of midwifery. The following 
three chapters detail the experience of the Minnesota midwives, their profes- 
sional jurisdictions, and their licensing rules and regulations. The final chapter 
recapitulates the issues of gender and power surrounding the direct-entry 
midwife. Also included in the book are three sets of appendices; Notes; a 
Bibliography; and an Index, all of which are exceptionally helpful in and of 
themselves. 
Lay's explicit coverage of these proceedings shows how each side, the 
midwives and the traditional medical community, has its own individual 
authoritative terminology. Clearly, the book is written in support of the 
Minnesota midwives but, to accurately portray the hearings, Lay includes the 
language of their opponents. The fact that a reader is able to conceptualize both 
sides of the argument and then make a judgment is one of the strengths of this 
book. Although the Minnesota midwives were granted their licensing by the 
passing of a state law in January2000, the statutes are ambiguous. For example, 
midwives are able to provide care "for those women who are expected to have 
a normal pregnancy, labor and delivery," but they are not able to perform 
emergency episiotomies (186). 
A wonderful scholarly addition to the field, The Rhetoric ofMidwfe y will 
also be a valuable resource not only for the field of midwifery, but also for 
women's studies, the medical field, for historians, sociologists, philosophers, 
and rhetoricians. 
Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn: 
The Complete Guide 
Penny Simkin, Janet Whalley, and Ann Keppler 
New York: Meadowbrook Press, 1991. Second ed. 
Reviewed by Jillian Duquaine 
Penny Simkin, Janet Whalley, and Ann Keppler, three members of the 
Childbirth Education Association of Seattle, have compiled a well-organized, 
comprehensive guide to the three stages in the female reproductive cycle: 
pregnancy, birth, and caring for a newborn. The second edition, updated and 
expanded, includes more illustrations, photographs, and charts, as well as two 
226 1 Volume 3, Number 1 
Book Reviews 
additional chapters. One chapter focuses on drugs, medications, and environ- 
- 
mental hazards, and a second chapter considers cesarean birth andvaginal birth 
after a previous cesarean (VBAC). The new edition reflects an awareness of the 
changing times and attempts to avoid gendered assumptions concerning 
partners, coaches, infants, and caregivers. Detailed yet easy to understand, the 
guide is a useful reference for pregnant women. 
However, despite the progressive tone which the authors use in the 
preface, the book reinforces rather than challenges traditional notions of 
motherhood. In doing so, it approaches pregnancy, childbirth, and caring for 
an infant narrowly and does not recognize motherhood as multifaceted. 
For example, despite the fact that a wide range of emotions can and do 
accompany the experience of motherhood, the authors limit their discussion 
solely to "positive" emotions. They describe birth as a joyous event and regard 
the expectant mother as anticipating the "long-awaited joy of having the baby" 
(32). However, they fail to recognize that fulfillment can also be accompanied 
by anger, jealousy, and resentment. Imagine, for example, a woman who lacks 
the financial means to support the child she is carrying or does not want the 
child. Or  think about a woman whose colicky newborn has kept her awake 
every night for the past week. What might their emotions be regarding their 
experiences? 
Failing to articulate a broad range of mothering experiences can have 
serious consequences. Such failure impacts the private lives of women and 
demands that they adhere to narrow definitions of acceptable mothering. 
Mothers who fail to do so riskbeing labeled bad mothers, a label which can lead 
to feelings of inadequacy and carries social as well as legal sanctions. Since 
pregnancy and childbirth guides occupy a central place in contemporary 
discourse about motherhood, it is imperative that authors and consumers of 
these guides continue to problematize narrow assumptions about motherhood. 
Only then can we begin to move beyond idealization and toward an under- 
standing of motherhood in its full complexity. 
A World of Babies: 
Imagined Childcare Guides for Seven Societies 
Judy DeLoache and Alma Gottlieb 
Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2000 
Reviewed by Petra Biiskens 
The title of Judy DeLoache and Alma Gottlieb's A World of Babies: Imagined 
Childcare Guidesfor Seven Societies is somewhat perplexing. Imagined Childcare 
Journal ofthe Association for Research on Mothering 1 227 


Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn: The Complete Guide

Ruddick, Sara

Making Connections Between Parenting and Peace

Boyd, Elizabeth Reid

Book Reviews 
Family Shifts: 
Families, Policies, and Gender Equality 
Margrit Eichler 
Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1997 
Reviewed by Elizabeth Reid Boyd 
Families have experienced "tectonic shifts" in the last decades of the twentieth 
century. Such major shifts include gender equality and the rise of biotechnol- 
ogy. In FamiIy Shfts: Families, Policies and Gender Equality, Margrit Eichler 
argues that concepts and language lag behind these changes, with serious social 
policy consequences. 
Eichler points out that family policies (which include a gamut of social 
welfare policies, taxation regulations and family laws) are at least partially 
shaped by what policy makers think the family should be. This resonates with 
Carol Bacchi's (1999)' assertion that it is useful to think about politics as 
discursive battles over meaning. Bacchi suggests that the state is always 
intervening and involved in the shaping of definitions, rather than simply 
responding to changes and problems. 
Eichler uses three models to demonstrate the significance of the concep- 
tual and ideological underpinning of family policy. The patriarchal model of 
the family, based upon gender differentiation and inequality, was particularly 
prevalent in the first half of the twentieth century (although its legacy certainly 
remains apparent in current Australian social policy). The individual respon- 
sibility model represents an ideological shift from gender differentiation to a 
commitment to equal treatment of individuals, regardless of gender. 
Eichler shows that both these models are flawed. However the individual 
responsibility model moves away from enshrined legal and social gender 
inequality towards formal equality, which has had the potential to disguise and 
reinforce actual inequality. Further, she demonstrates that in both models the 
public or community has no responsibility for the economic well-being of the 
family. In the patriarchal model, responsibility is held by the father, in the 
individual responsibility model, by a parent. 
An alternative to these models is what Eichler calls the social responsibility 
model. This is based upon principles including minimised stratification upon 
the basis of sex, that "functioning relationships" constitute a family unit, and 
that the public share responsibilitywith both parents for the care of dependent 
children. This last component directly challenges premises and policies that 
reflect the individual responsibility model. Public responsibility depends upon 
an acknowledgement of the social value of caring for dependents. 
That functioning relationships constitute a family unit is perhaps one of 
Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering 1 241 
Book Review3 
the most provocative ideas in Eichler's model since, as she points out, the 
heterosexual union of marriage is a legally privileged relationship. In Australia, 
at a time when it is being proposed by the Federal government that health 
rebates for IVF be limited to married women, and exclude single and lesbian 
women, it is clear that this principle can represent a huge ideological stumbling 
block. Eichler's social responsibility model represents a promising vision, but 
it is also worth remembering that family shifts can oscillate. Social responsi- 
bility is not a guaranteed progression, but a goal that will require vigilance and 
effort. 
'Bacchi, C. 1999. Women, Policy andPolitics: The Construction ofPolicy Problems. 
London: Sage. 
A Jewish Mother in Shangri-la 
Rosie Rosenzweig 
Boston: Shambhala, 1998 
Reviewed by Marion Stichman Gold 
Rosie Rosenzweig accepts her son Ben's invitation to learn about Buddhism 
first-hand rather than asking him to return home - to her and to the faith of 
his birth, Judaism. However, after reading Rosenzweig's adventures in Shangri- 
la, I was reminded of a mother's familiar admonition to a child, "and if your 
friends were to jump off a bridge, would you follow?" Rosenzweig, in her quest 
to understand her son's choice to become a practicing Buddhist, visits retreats 
in Europe and Asia where she speaks to clerics and laity in her search for 
answers. Her attempts to recreate her son's experiences reveal that she is able 
to find common ground between Buddhism and Judaism. However, 
Rosenzweig's description of these experiences reveal more about her own 
association with Judaism than answer any questions we may have about her 
son's change of religion. Why Ben becomes a Buddhist is not definitively 
answered. 
Rosenzweig's narrative of her journey to Paris and Nepal in search of Ben's 
truth, as well as her own, leads her to analyses of past events that link mother 
and son. Her reflections on past experiences are sometimes painful and the 
seeming alienation between mother and son, husband and wife which emerge 
from time to time serve as a template for the patterns of living together for so 
many of us. Nevertheless, the reason for undertaking the search for Ben's 
religious identity through a concrete reenactment of his spiritual journey 
remains a mystery. 
Was it necessary for Rosenzweig to travel halfway around the world in an 
242 1 Vo/ume 3, Number 1 


Family Shifts: Families, Policies and Gender Equality

Rosenzweig, Rosie

Rosie Rosenzweig 
De Greene Cousine 
"Frum Europe is gekumin my cousine, 
Shein ve gold unde lichten ve a greene, 
Bechalech ve roite vepomegrant%en 
Undjselach vos betten noch to tanzten."* 
Skipping ahead of her friends, 
Hair riding on her own breeze, 
A cheerful face gracing a Victorian dress, 
She came into vision and chose herself. 
Was this hallucination, prophesy, or need? 
I knew her, a leader among them, 
Before she knew me. Dancing 
O n  the cobbled or (perhaps?) pressed-dirt path, 
She imagined it a dance floor, 
Sparkled her eyes, brought color to her cheek, 
And blossomed into blush. A green sprout, 
Soon a flower to bloom, she was loved. 
I watched her as she was courted, possessed, 
Then, catching her breath, taken to bride; 
And I waited for him to drop his seed 
And bring me into flesh. 
* (translation) 
My Cousin came over from Europe, 
Beautiful as gold and shining like a green plant, 
Her cheeks were red as apples, 
Her feet were begging to dance. 
(Jewish folk song) 
Journal oftbe Association for Research on Mothering 1 103 


De Greene Cousine

Grant, Jaime M.

Jaime M. Grant 
Gendering Reilly 
People tell me that he doesn't really have a gender yet, at this age. 
I wonder when he will have a gender, and what it will be. 
The world already has such designs on him. 
Eight Weeks. 
I am breast feeding on demand, which means every hour and a half. He's huge 
(10 pounds at birth), famished, constantly on the breast. I respond to him 
immediately. Pick him up whenever he cries. "He's already got you on a string," 
I'm told. Also (pejorative): "He's going to be a Mamma's boy!" 
Three Months. 
He  is off the growth chart according to the pediatrician. A big, burly sumo- 
wrestler-ish infant. I dress him in jeans and darkcolors and I am toldrepeatedly 
that he's going to be: (1) a football player, (2) a bruiser, (3) a heartbreaker. Men 
and (feminist) women both ruffle his hair, toss him into the air, chuck under 
his chin. 
Four Months. 
O n  the elevator atwork, me in mygirlyworkshoes, him in apurple cotton dress. 
Awoman who gets offon six, who never speaks to me, turns to us and says: "She 
has a perfect head!" Reaches out, so gently, caresses his cheek. He beams back 
at her. 
Five Months. 
Still not sleeping through the night. I'm told (by friends, the pediatrician, 
relatives): Stop letting him sleep in your bed! He'll do better in a crib. You have 
to let him cry it out at some point. 
Journal ofthe Association for Research on Mothering 1 145 
Jaime M. Grant 
Six Months. 
Woman in the lobby at work: Sucks her teeth. "Dressing him like that! I t  will 
just confuse him!" 
"About what?" I ask her, in all seriousness. "What do you thinkwearing a dress 
will confuse him about?" She is too angry to reply. 
Eight Months. 
The man at the beach asks me if he is a boy or a girl, and when I say boy gets 
instantly angry: "What have you got him in pink for?" 
"He likes pink," I say, venomous. 
Eleven Months. 
The (former) day care provider, on the day that I bring him in red leggings and 
a soft yellow top. "You can tell Redly's a boy, regardless ofwhat he's wearing. 
He's so strong." 
Later that night, picking him up at her in-home day care center she reports: 
"My daughter just loves to help me with the babies. M y  son never has." Reilly 
is dragging a Barbie around by the hair, and I realize I haven't bought him a 
single dolly yet. 
146 1 Volume 2, Number l 


Gendering Reilly

Verduyn, Christl

Le nom de la mère: Mères, filles et écriture dans la littérature québécoise au féminin

Castle, Joyce B.

Sons of Feminists: Learning by Their Talk

White, Marybeth

Marybeth White 
Oppressive Nascence, 
The Nascence of Oppression 
Giving birth 
an heir to a culture 
Birth 
rhythm, flow, 
unfolding of past, presently of the future 
Woman to woman 
womb to womb 
passing tradition, 
giving, receiving 
containing, releasing 
breath of life 
Intervention 
rhythm, flow.. ..interrupted 
past presently infused with uncertainty 
future ... synergy of unknown 
Tradition passing, 
Disruption 
Domination, Subjugation 
Upheaval 
Giving birth 
receiving distortion, 
culture of heir 
CON FUSED 
Journal ofthe Associationfor Research on Mothering 1 31 


Oppressive Nascence, the Nascence of Oppression

Dunlop, Rishma

Rishma Dunlop 
Birthday Poem For Rachel 
I want to whisper you awake 
this morning 
your body warm in a nest of sleep 
the sky is a smile of light 
the sun's breath rising, 
writing the lyrics of your limbs 
into the still waters of the bay 
water birds are calling your name 
steeple stemmed herons ankle the wetlands 
white cranes stilt across the mudflats 
scarlet poppies seed themselves 
in wild grasses for you 
seaweed glistens, 
wraps the beach with 
streamers of emerald ribbons 
Child, you are my hymn 
my anthem 
my bloodline calling 
I wish you gifts: 
to feel along the heart 
Journal ofthe Associationfor Research on Mothering 1 85 
to sense with the pulse 
to find the light that breaks 
through secret places 
unbolting the dark 
to dance fleet-footed 
through corridors of dreams 
on your year's turning 
may you find the map of love 
charted in these shores 
whispered in winds 
and in the sleek mouths of seals. 
86 1 Volume 2, Number 2 
