Motherhood
Slatkin, Wendy. "Maternity and Sexuality in the 1890s." Woman's Art Journal 1.1 (1980): 13-19. JSTOR. Web. 1 Mar. 2014.
Slatkin’s article discusses the stereotypical visual depictions of women, motherhood, and female sexuality that existed during the 1890s, specifically within the realms of art and literature. Late 19th century artists were captivated by fertility and maternity, yet in portraying women as mothers, artists denied women intelligence, independence, or individuality. Slatkin uncovers such dynamics by analyzing several male artists and paintings that portray women as venerable icons of fertility and motherhood, thus exalting female sexuality but diminishing other aspects of femininity. Ultimately, Slatkin’s art analyses lead to the conclusion that male artists during the 1890s portrayed a continuing patriarchal structure of society that reduced women to their animalistic, biological purposes without concern for women’s “full human faculties,” despite the growing force of feminism and the quickly changing roles of women (Slatkin 18). I found the article interesting because it exposes a truth about the visual representations of women that were being created that may have actually been contradictory with what was actually going on in society. Though the article clearly focused on art, the jargon used was approachable and I was able to fully understand Slatkin's analyses of the paintings and their connections to motherhood. (KC)
Slatkin’s article discusses the stereotypical visual depictions of women, motherhood, and female sexuality that existed during the 1890s, specifically within the realms of art and literature. Late 19th century artists were captivated by fertility and maternity, yet in portraying women as mothers, artists denied women intelligence, independence, or individuality. Slatkin uncovers such dynamics by analyzing several male artists and paintings that portray women as venerable icons of fertility and motherhood, thus exalting female sexuality but diminishing other aspects of femininity. Ultimately, Slatkin’s art analyses lead to the conclusion that male artists during the 1890s portrayed a continuing patriarchal structure of society that reduced women to their animalistic, biological purposes without concern for women’s “full human faculties,” despite the growing force of feminism and the quickly changing roles of women (Slatkin 18). I found the article interesting because it exposes a truth about the visual representations of women that were being created that may have actually been contradictory with what was actually going on in society. Though the article clearly focused on art, the jargon used was approachable and I was able to fully understand Slatkin's analyses of the paintings and their connections to motherhood. (KC)
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Smith, Daniel Scott. ""The Number and Quality of Children": Education and Marital Fertility in Early Twentieth-Century Iowa." Journal of Social History (1996). Ebsco. Web. 11 March 2014.
By using statistical analysis of the Iowa State Census of 1915 this article provides details about the connection between education and fertility. Specifically, the article looks at the type and extent of schooling and its corresponding rates of fertility in married women, in an attempt to draw wider connections between education and fertility nation-wide in the early twentieth century. In developing the analysis, however, the problem with drawing that wider connection is complicated because, similar to today, states in the early twentieth century were largely responsible for setting their own standards in terms of length of school days and the number of years children were mandated to attend.
The reason Iowa becomes the central focus of this analysis is largely due to the accessibility of census and education records. Most state census records were not detailed prior to the middle of the century, and detailed education records in most states simply did not exist. Iowa is also particularly interesting because of the extent to which students remained in school. Students in Iowa continued their education well into their mid to late teens. A summary of the results indicates that poorly-educated Catholic and Lutheran women who were married to farm tenants had the highest rates of fertility within marriage, while well-educated urban women whose husbands were of middle-class occupations had the highest rates of fertility within marriage. (368)
Although to say exactly what the connection between higher education in women and fertility rates is difficult, it is essential to point out that, even without the factors of religion, parentage, and occupation of husbands, the fertility rates of women are dependent upon their education. Women were more effectively able to limit their rate of childbearing when they enjoyed more and better education. (jvg)
By using statistical analysis of the Iowa State Census of 1915 this article provides details about the connection between education and fertility. Specifically, the article looks at the type and extent of schooling and its corresponding rates of fertility in married women, in an attempt to draw wider connections between education and fertility nation-wide in the early twentieth century. In developing the analysis, however, the problem with drawing that wider connection is complicated because, similar to today, states in the early twentieth century were largely responsible for setting their own standards in terms of length of school days and the number of years children were mandated to attend.
The reason Iowa becomes the central focus of this analysis is largely due to the accessibility of census and education records. Most state census records were not detailed prior to the middle of the century, and detailed education records in most states simply did not exist. Iowa is also particularly interesting because of the extent to which students remained in school. Students in Iowa continued their education well into their mid to late teens. A summary of the results indicates that poorly-educated Catholic and Lutheran women who were married to farm tenants had the highest rates of fertility within marriage, while well-educated urban women whose husbands were of middle-class occupations had the highest rates of fertility within marriage. (368)
Although to say exactly what the connection between higher education in women and fertility rates is difficult, it is essential to point out that, even without the factors of religion, parentage, and occupation of husbands, the fertility rates of women are dependent upon their education. Women were more effectively able to limit their rate of childbearing when they enjoyed more and better education. (jvg)
Ostman, Heather. ""The Most Dangerous Woman in America": Emma Goldman and the Rhetoric of Motherhood in Living My Life." Prose Studies 31.1 (Apr. 2009): 55-73. Ebsco. Web. 11 Mar. 2014
Emma Goldman was an anarchist feminist who was often called “The Mother of the Cause” by her followers and “Red Emma” by her detractors. In her autobiography, she addresses feminism in light of motherhood, and ascribes herself a sort of pseudo-motherhood over her masses. She also asserted herself as anarchist-mother in her periodical, appropriately called Mother Earth, and was the mother figure to her lovers and other men. Goldman avoided biological motherhood, in part ascribing to the anarchist feminist ideas that marriage laws likened women to prostitutes, as their marriages were based on commodification instead of sex and desire. The construction of motherhood, for Goldman, was based on the absence of a women’s sexuality.
As part of her anarchist feminist agenda, Goldman points to women’s complicity in their own oppression: Men’s behavior is cultivated by the mother. Because men are “created” by women and expected and conditioned to act a certain way, women are the only ones who can reverse this condition and teach men how to act in less oppressive ways.
Goldman’s autobiography, published in 1931, came at a time when the roles of American women and their sexuality were being socially and psychologically redefined, as were the cultural ideals of motherhood. The role of mother as a morally superior and maternal women in the nineteenth century developed into the antithesis in the twentieth century—the powerful and dangerous Oedipal mother. (jvg)
Emma Goldman was an anarchist feminist who was often called “The Mother of the Cause” by her followers and “Red Emma” by her detractors. In her autobiography, she addresses feminism in light of motherhood, and ascribes herself a sort of pseudo-motherhood over her masses. She also asserted herself as anarchist-mother in her periodical, appropriately called Mother Earth, and was the mother figure to her lovers and other men. Goldman avoided biological motherhood, in part ascribing to the anarchist feminist ideas that marriage laws likened women to prostitutes, as their marriages were based on commodification instead of sex and desire. The construction of motherhood, for Goldman, was based on the absence of a women’s sexuality.
As part of her anarchist feminist agenda, Goldman points to women’s complicity in their own oppression: Men’s behavior is cultivated by the mother. Because men are “created” by women and expected and conditioned to act a certain way, women are the only ones who can reverse this condition and teach men how to act in less oppressive ways.
Goldman’s autobiography, published in 1931, came at a time when the roles of American women and their sexuality were being socially and psychologically redefined, as were the cultural ideals of motherhood. The role of mother as a morally superior and maternal women in the nineteenth century developed into the antithesis in the twentieth century—the powerful and dangerous Oedipal mother. (jvg)