Still a mother : noncustodial mothers, gendered institutions, and social change / Jackie Krasas.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Krasas, Jackie, 1965- author.

Series:

Cornell scholarship online.

Cornell scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Absentee mothers--United States.

Absentee mothers.

Motherhood--United States.

Motherhood.

Custody of children--Social aspects--United States.

Custody of children.

Social institutions--United States.

Social institutions.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (1 online resource)

Place of Publication:

Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2021.

Summary:

Jackie Krasas traces the trajectories of mothers who have lost or ceded custody to an ex-partner. She argues that these noncustodial mothers' experiences should be understood within a greater web of gendered social institutions such as employment, education, health care, and legal systems that shapes the meanings of contemporary motherhood in the United States. If motherhood means 'being there,' then noncustodial mothers, through their absence, are seen as nonmothers. They are anti-mothers to be reviled. At the very least, these mothers serve as cautionary tales. 'Still a Mother' questions the existence of an objective method for determining custody of children and challenges the 'best-interests standard' through a feminist, reproductive justice lens. The stories of noncustodial mothers that Krasas relates shed light on marriage and divorce, caregiving, gender violence, and family court.

Contents:

A contradiction in terms

The mothers

She must have done something

Still a mother

Father of the year

Manufacturing bad bothers

Still in an abusive relationship

Lessons learned.

Notes:

Also issued in print: 2021.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781501754302

1501754300

9781501754296

1501754297

OCLC:

1155484474