Petra Bueskens, "Modern Motherhood and Womens Dual Identities: Rewriting the Sexual Contract" (Routledge, 2018)
Why do women in contemporary western societies experience contradiction between their autonomous and maternal selves? What are the origins of this contradiction and the associated \u2018double shift\u2019 that result in widespread calls to either \u2018lean in\u2019 or \u2018opt out\u2019? How are some mothers subverting these contradictions and finding meaningful ways of reconciling their autonomous and maternal selves?\nIn\xa0Modern Motherhood and Women\u2019s Dual Identities: Rewriting the Sexual Contract\xa0(Routledge, 2018),\xa0Petra Bueskens argues that western modernisation consigned women to the home and released them from it in historically unprecedented, yet interconnected, ways. Her ground-breaking formulation is that western women are free as \u2018individuals\u2019 and constrained as mothers, with the twist that it is the former that produces the latter.\nBueskens\u2019 theoretical contribution consists of the identification and analysis of modern women\u2019s duality, drawing on political philosophy, feminist theory and sociology tracking the changing nature of discourses of women, freedom and motherhood across three centuries. While the current literature points to the pervasiveness of contradiction and double-shifts for mothers, very little attention has been paid to how (some) women are subverting contradiction and \u2018rewriting the sexual contract\u2019. Bridging this gap, Bueskens\u2019 interviews ten \u2018revolving mothers\u2019 to reveal how periodic absence, exceeding the standard work-day, disrupts the default position assigned to mothers in the home, and in turn disrupts the gendered dynamics of household work.\nHelena Vissing, PsyD, SEP, PMH-C is a Licensed Psychologist practicing in California. She can be reached at\xa0contact@helenavissing.com. She is the author of\xa0Somatic Maternal Healing: Psychodynamic and Somatic Treatment of Trauma in the Perinatal Period\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices\nSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/gender-studies