Bad mothers: how feminism, Law and the media have redefined motherhood

The western world has been developing for a long time, both in its christian and in its secular dimension, an ideal stereotyped representation of "The Devoted Mother". Feminism and the great social, economical, legal and cultural changes have modified those stereotypes, revealing unexpected mechanisms in constructing and deconstructing femininity in its mothering version. The originality of this paper lies in intercepting new identity structures, beyond the traditional polarization of maternal idealisation/pathological maternity. By doing this, this wotk achieves the methodological goal of detecting new identitary "social furrows" where new represantations and new existencial possibilities open up to mothers as social actors. It will probably impact on the current debate on post-modern motherhood, alsa because it introduces a reflexion on a new "nesting society" where a new caring law might have its chance.