You're Doing it Wrong! : Mothering, Media, and Medical Expertise / Bethany L. Johnson, Margaret M. Quinlan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Johnson, Bethany L., Author.

Quinlan, Margaret M., Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Motherhood.

Child rearing.

Medical care.

Social media.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (viii, 259 pages) : illustrations

Place of Publication:

New Brunswick, NJ : Rutgers University Press, [2019]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

New mothers face a barrage of confounding decisions during the life-cycle of early motherhood which includes... Should they change their diet or mindset to conceive? Exercise while pregnant? Should they opt for a home birth or head for a hospital? Whatever they "choose," they will be sure to find plenty of medical expertise from health practitioners to social media "influencers" telling them that they're making a series of mistakes. As intersectional feminists with two small children each, Bethany L. Johnson and Margaret M. Quinlan draw from their own experiences as well as stories from a range of caretakers throughout. You're Doing it Wrong! investigates the storied history of mothering advice in the media, from the newspapers, magazines, doctors' records and personal papers of the nineteenth-century to today's websites, Facebook groups, and Instagram feeds. Johnson and Quinlan find surprising parallels between today's mothering experts and their Victorian counterparts, but they also explore how social media has placed unprecedented pressures on new mothers, even while it may function as social support for some. They further examine the contentious construction of prenatal and baby care expertise itself, as individuals such as everyone from medical professionals to experienced moms have competed to have their expertise acknowledged in the public sphere. Exploring potential health crises from infertility treatments to "better babies" milestones, You're Doing it Wrong! provides a provocative look at historical and contemporary medical expertise during conception, pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum, and infant care stages.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

Introduction

1. On Preconception, the Beginning of the Life Cycle of Early Motherhood

2. A State of Mind? Fertility Treatment(s) and Expertise

3. Red Underwear, Genes, and Monstrosity: Pregnancy and Social Media Surveillance

4. "You Women Will Have to Fight for It": Twilight Sleep and Transactional Childbirth Expertise in Twentieth-Century America

5. "One of the Most Curious Charities in the World": Infant Incubation as Sideshow and/or Medical Specialty

6. Not Just Baby Blues: Historical Realities and Social Media Accounts of Postpartum Care Today

7. Memento Mori in the Victorian Era and on Social Media: The "Right" (Way) to Grieve

8. "Better Babies": Early Twentieth-Century Scientific Babyhood and Constructions of Twenty-First- Century Infancy on Instagram

Conclusion

Methodological Appendix

Acknowledgments

Notes

Master Reference List

Selected Bibliography

Index

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 06. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

0-8135-9382-4

OCLC:

1124761528