95. Decoding Cultural Messages of Motherhood and The Good vs Bad Mother

In this episode I reflect on the context of Mother's Day and how cultural messages are communicated to us about motherhood and how this affects our sense of self and identity. I reflect on developing our skill of perceiving and picking up on the cultural messages we're sent, placing them within a broader social context, cultivating greater self-compassion to lessen guilt and self-judgement, and how this is key to reducing comparison, competition, and disconnection between us and other mothers.

In the episode the research I reference when reflecting on differing interpretations of how feminism has treated mothers comes from Associate Professor Julie Stephens and her work on 'postmaternal thinking'.

I refer to another episode of the podcast that I released on the 'fish tank' of motherhood model - go back and find this episode as number 89. You can find the 3min animation explaining the theory here: https://drsophiebrock.com/thefishtankofmotherhood

Find information on and the graphic of The Good Mother Bad Mother Binary concept here - https://drsophiebrock.com/conceptualmodels

Find a replay of my talk at The Oath Summit on Maternal Anger here - https://youtu.be/epvnQKxI72I

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The Motherhood Studies Practitioner Certification runs once a year and enrolment for the 2023 round of the course is open until Thursday 18th May. Email [email protected] if you have any questions and secure your place here: https://drsophiebrock.com/motherhoodstudies/