You're doing it wrong! : mothering, media, and medical expertise /

The answer to the question "What makes a good mother?" rests on the notion of good. Historically considered a personal and private matter, motherhood has long been embedded within the social discourse. With the prevalence of the internet and social media, however, interactive platforms now offer a space for any and all to voice personal and often-conflicting medical and lay advice targeting all stages of motherhood, from preconception through child-rearing. This descriptive, unsolicited advice is socially abundant, but inconsistent. Drawing on historical examples for comparison to the present, Johnson and Quinlan (both, Univ. of North Carolina, Charlotte) discuss womanhood and motherhood as social constructs. Most importantly, they dedicate chapters to health scares that parents often face--surrounding preconception, fertility, pregnancy and birth, the postpartum period, infant loss, and early childhood rearing--and discuss how related medical, technical, and nontraditional (what the authors term "lay expert") advice is frequently contradictory and confusing. What it means to be a good mother may be less clear in a socially opinionated environment that offers varied levels of expert advice; however, the pressure to be a good mother is quite transparent. Summing Up: Recommended. All readership levels. --Annette C. Rosati, Clarion University of Pennsylvania