The Mask of Motherhood: How Becoming a Mother Changes Our Lives and Why We Never Talk About It

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Penguin Publishing Group, May 1, 2000 - Family & Relationships - 288 pages
Becoming a mother is filled with the extremes of emotion --the highest highs and the lowest lows. But women are often reluctant to talk honestly about the experience for fear they'll be seen as bad mothers. With wit and candor, The Mask of Motherhood takes on the myths and the misinformation, helping women to prepare and deal with the depth of feeling that comes with the experience and perhaps most important, it lets them know that many, if not most, new mothers are feeling the same way.Susan Maushart, sociologist and mother of three, explores how motherhood affects our marriages and friendships, our relationships with parents, our sex lives, and our self-esteem. In The Mask of Motherhood, mothers will find the comfort and reassurance they are looking for, and confirmation that, indeed, motherhood is the toughest job in the world, but can also be the most rewarding.

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Contents

Faking Motherhood The Mask Revealed
1
Falling The Experience of Pregnancy
37
Laboring Under Delusions
64
Copyright

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About the author (2000)

Susan Maushart is a columnist for Weekend Australian Magazine and is heard regularly on ABC Radio as host of the acclaimed online series "Multiple Choice." Maushart has a PhD in Media Ecology from New York University and her book The Mask of Motherhood was hailed by the London Times as "a feminist classic." She lives in Australia but will be returning to live in the Long Island, New York, area this winter.

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