Show Notes
Patriarchy asks mothers to hold themselves to impossible standards and then blames them when they struggle. In this episode, I’m revisiting the patriarchal double-bind through the lens of motherhood and unpacking the expectations women are expected to follow all at once. We’ve become accustomed to policing others and ourselves based on the rules we’ve been taught a “good mother” should follow, while the realities of exhaustion, isolation, grief, resentment, and needing help are treated as personal failures. But motherhood is beautiful and hard, and acknowledging that both things can exist simultaneously is what begins to set women free. Here’s what I cover:
Why motherhood is such a clear example of the patriarchal double-bind How social media often pressures women to hide the difficult parts of motherhood Why women are taught that needing help means failure and how that isolates mothers The realities of parental leave and childcare that reveal how unsupported mothers actually are How fear keeps women silent about motherhood and why telling the truth feels so risky
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