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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20250521T190000
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SUMMARY:The Politics of Motherhood: Alex Bollen & Helen Charman in conversation
DESCRIPTION:We are very excited to welcome two brilliant contemporary feminist thinkers to Housmans; their projects address ‘motherhood’ and the figure of the mother\, as the urgent political categories that they are. \n\n\n\nAlex Bollen is a Postnatal Practitioner with the National Childbirth Trust and researcher with over 20 years of experiance\, in Motherdom: Breaking Free from Bad Science and Good Mother Myths she picks apart the pernicious histories of what she refers to as ‘Good Mother Myths.’ These myths are deployed to censure mothers and blame them for society’s problems. Incensed by the way bad science is used to shame mothers\, she decided to set the record straight. With meticulous research and keen insight\, Motherdom exposes both the shaky science and unjustified prescriptions about how mothers should ‘naturally’ behave. Competing visions of birth – ‘natural’ versus ‘medical’ – mean women can be criticised whatever happens\, raising the odds that birth will be a damaging\, even deadly\, experience. Mothers are judged and belittled whether they breast- or bottle-feed their babies. Bogus claims about brain development and dodgy attachment theories mean that whatever mothers do\, it is never enough. This must stop\, she says. We must replace Good Mother myths with a realistic approach to parenting. Alex Bollen proposes ‘motherdom’\, a more expansive conception of motherhood\, which values and respects the different ways people raise their children. Instead of finding fault with mothers\, Motherdom shifts our focus to the relationships and resources children need to flourish. \n\n\n\nAlex will be in conversation with Helen Charman whose book Mother State\, not even out in paperback yet\, already has a well deserved reputation as one of the major works of Marxist-Feminist thinking produced this decade. In it\, Helen argues that motherhood must be conceived within poltical terms and that we must take a wider historically cohesive view of the figure of the mother\, who is both monstered\, and legislated againist\, by the state\, whilst also being held up as sort of ideal of reactionary political femininity. From the blurb: “In Mother State\, Helen Charman writes a new history of Britain and Northern Ireland. Beginning with Women’s Liberation and ending with austerity\, the book follows mothers’ fights for an alternative future. Alongside the mother figures that loom large in British culture\, from Margaret Thatcher to Kat Slater\, we meet communities of lesbian squatters\, anti-nuclear campaigners\, the wives of striking miners and teenage mothers protesting housing cuts: groups who believed that if you want to nourish your children\, you have to nourish the world around them too. Here we see a world where motherhood is not a restrictive identity but a state of possibility. ‘Mother’ ceases to be an individual responsibility\, and becomes an expansive collective term to organize under\, for people of any gender\, with or without children of their own. It begins with an understanding: that to mother is a political act.” \n\n\n\nAdvanced booking strongly recommended. \n\n\n\nDoors open at 6:45\, event starts 7:00. \n\n\n\nAs always\, tickets are priced on a sliding scale. If you are unable to pay for a ticket please do not hesitate to contact us at shop@housmans.com\, and a free ticket will be made available. \n\n\n\nIf you choose ‘book + entry’\, your copies of the book will be available to collect on the evening. If you would like to collect it earlier\, or arrange for delivery\, please contact us (postage is £2.95). Telephone 020 7837 4473 or email shop@housmans.com. \n\n\n\nDoors Open at 6:45pm\, Event Starts 7:00 \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nShare this:\n				Share on X (Opens in new window)\n				X\n			\n				Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)\n				Facebook\n			\n				Share on Insta (Opens in new window)\n				Insta\n			Like this:Like Loading...
URL:https://housmans.com/event/the-politics-of-motherhood-alex-bollen-helen-charman-in-conversation/
CATEGORIES:Book Launch,Book Talk
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