Introduction: Imagining Motherhood in the Twenty-First Century—Images, Representations, Constructions

Abstract

This special issue of Women: A Cultural Review explores the diversity of maternal images proffered by various media formats, including cinema, literature and visual art, in the twenty-first century. The editors begin their introduction with an overview of recent research on maternal representation, then introduce the primary thematic concerns that feature in the included articles. They look at how mothers whose mothering experiences do not reflect conventional family models—particularly single mothers, LGBQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer/questioning) mothers and migrant mothers—have been either sidelined by or misrepresented in cultural and media depictions of motherhood, and how these depictions have begun to evolve in recent years. They additionally explore how the idealization of motherhood in mainstream culture casts women who choose not to have children in a negative light. Ultimately, they point to how the images, representations and constructions of motherhood analysed by the various contributors both reflect and contribute to the shaping of contemporary cultural meanings of motherhood.

Keywords:

• art
• film
• literature
• motherhood
• mothers
• popular culture

ORCID

Valerie Heffernan http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9960-8213

Gay Wilgus http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3097-735X

Notes

1 Coined by the journalist Lizzie Skurnik, the term ‘momoir’ is often used to refer to a memoir about or written from the point of view of a mother (Skurnik 2006).

2 Of note in this context is that both women later came out as gay—O’Donnell in 2002 and Foster in 2013.

3 Curtis notes that Lange did not include the sixth image in her series (Curtis 1986: 6).

4 Åström’s contribution to this special issue is included because it reflects on how literary and cultural representations of motherhood also affect the portrayal of fathers.

Additional information

Funding

The research for this article was funded by an Irish Research Council Starter Research Project Grant [strand RPG2013-1].