The Mother-Blame Game is an interdisciplinary and intersectional examination of the phenomenon of mother-blame in the twenty-first century. As the socioeconomic and cultural expectations of what constitutes “good motherhood” grow continually narrow and exclusionary, mothers are demonized and stigmatized—perhaps now more than ever—for all that is perceived to go “wrong” in their children’s lives. This anthology brings together creative and scholarly contributions from feminist academics and activists alike to provide a dynamic study of the many varied ways in which mothers are blamed and shamed for their maternal practice. Importantly, it also considers how mothers resist these ideologies by engaging in empowered and feminist mothering practices, as well as by publicly challenging patriarchal discourses of “good motherhood.”

Vanessa Reimer is a PhD candidate in York University’s Graduate Program in Gender, Feminist and Women’s Studies. She is the co-editor of Mother of Invention: How Our Mothers Influenced us as Feminist Academics and Activists (Reimer and Sahagian 2013). Her research interests include feminist studies in religion, girlhood, and mothering.

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Sarah Sahagian earned her undergraduate degree in history and gender studies from Ontario’s Queen’s University. She then went on to complete her MSc in gender from the London School of Economics. Sarah is currently a PhD candidate in gender, feminist and women’s studies at York University and feels fortunate to be able to call Dr. Andrea O’Reilly her supervisor. Sarah was born and raised in Toronto, the same city she resides in today. She also has one of the coolest mothers in the world, who will even watch teen movies with you if you ask her and looks a good ten years younger than her actual age.

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