The “Do-It-All Mother” - Discursive Strategies and Post-Feminist Alliances in Parenting Magazines

Abstract

This article analyses discursive strategies in current German parenting magazines and argues that “motherhood” is connected to conservative gender roles and, at the same time, aligned with an individualistic post-feminist discourse. The analysed texts reshape conservative models of motherhood and gender, especially concerning the mother-child relationship, the question of the “compatibility” of unpaid and paid work, and gendered parental positions. As a result of the discursive strategies and alliances, the political and structural dimensions concerning care-work, gender equality, and intersectionality are buried under an individualistic framework. We bring this depoliticisation to light and make space for new feminist perspectives on motherhood.

Keywords

• Motherhood
• Gender Roles
• Post-Feminism
• Discourse
• Individualization