SOSC 1000 Reflection - Second Group LeaderTA: Lori TurnerProf: Terry Conlin PDF

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Second Group Leader
TA: Lori Turner
Prof: Terry Conlin...

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SOSC 1000. Group Leader Discussion Rich & Hays: Motherhood and Intensive Mothering Tutorial Leader: Lori Turner Tutorial # 11 The group leader questions I focused on were from the week during the concept of “Sexuality, Gender and Family”. The questions focused on the readings by Adrienne Rich “Introduction from Of Woman Born” and Sharon Hays “Why Can’t a Woman be a Businessman”. Prior to the discussion, I discussed all the given group leader questions in detail and to the conclusion that our main focus was on our special questions. I had brought up the essay question and divided it into two parts. The first part dealt with an excerpt from Sharon Hays’ reading when she argues, “the ideological separation of public and private spheres results in the values of intimate and family life [standing] as an explicit rejection of the values of economic and political life” (Hays, 18, 2008) I asked my group member whether they agreed on this statement made by Sharon Hays. Surprisingly, one discussion lead to another, making it extremely interesting. The first part of the question lead to a comparison between the ideology of motherhood and the concept of mothering – a topic introduced by Adrienne Rich. My group members and I talked about the institution of motherhood which begins the ideology of the mother being the only caregiver who cares and loves a child. This particular ideology rose a lot of perspectives to how they felt about it. Our discussion about the institution of motherhood also included the most important concept of intensive mothering, which is mentioned in Sharon Hays’ reading. Hays describes intensive mothering as a belief and dominant system that demands mothers to provide unlimited amounts of care, attention and affection to the children. One group member mentioned how this idea supports “intensive parenting” and divides the responsibility amongst other caregiver roles such as father, grandmothers, uncles and aunts etc. Therefore, he concluded his idea by ending with Hays mentioning that mothering is not institutionalized. My group members and I agreed on the first part of my question where Hays talks about “the ideological separation of public and private spheres results in the values of intimate and family life [standing] as an explicit rejection of the values of economic and political life”. The reason why we agreed on this statement by Hays is because she is talking about the institution of motherhood. Women as mothers will always struggle to maintain their roles as a mother at home and as a working woman if they continue “intensive mothering”. Their only solution to their struggles would be to divide the time, love and care amongst other caregivers (ex. Father, grandparents). A thought that was mentioned not only in the reading, but also by a group member was the fact that a child needs the attention of both the father and the mother and not just entirely from one parent only. Therefore, the concept of fathering is also very important for a child’s growth – giving the men and women both the responsibility. The second part to my question was if the public and private can ever be removed. The conclusion we came to was that motherhood and mothering is expressed differently over time and varies by social class, race, ethnicity and culture. There will always be cultural contradictions –depending on which culture you are from and what your background is. This part of the question connects to question #5 of the group leader discussion questions. From hearing the different sides of other group members, our conclusion was that the public and private

SOSC 1000. Group Leader Discussion Rich & Hays: Motherhood and Intensive Mothering Tutorial Leader: Lori Turner Tutorial # 11 dichotomy can never be fully removed because it solely depends on the kind of culture you are from or it was because financially, one parent cannot provide care for the family, leaving the mother no option but to enter the workforce. Once again, the group leader questions and the discussion was a very good experience for me, since I got to understand the readings in more depth. I found this topic of discussion as something relatable and extremely intriguing....