Mom, Mommy, Mama:: Depictions of Mothers in Major Canadian Media Outlets

Analyses of mothering tend to generate diverse reactions and elicit powerful responses because there is no clear consensus about what constitutes liberatory and oppressive mothering. The contemporary notions of what it means to be a mother, what mothering entails, and who a mother is, have become sites of cultural debate and resistance (Caporale-Bizzini 2006, ii); feminist critiques of mothering have often been understood as ?mother blaming?. In making problematic that which is considered ?natural', feminist writings have also been regarded as posing a direct challenge to the sacredness of motherhood. Yet even among feminist perspectives there is no singular ?feminist account of mothering'. Canadian sociology Katelan Dunn compares and contrasts various representations of motherhood in Canadian media sources and assesses their relevance for understanding the current media discourse on motherhood that exists in Canada. The influence of media accounts of motherhood on gender equality today will also be discussed.