Mothering and Ambivalence

Children's rights, lone motherhood and the breakdown of families are all issues at the forefront of current social debate in the West, with little agreement on what constitutes good parenting, or how the needs of both mother and child are best met. The feminist contribution to this debate is particularly important in keeping in view the diverse identities of all those who provide mothering. The psychoanalytic contribution is often undervalued and misunderstood. Mothering and Ambivalence brings together authors from therapeutic, academic and social work backgrounds to discuss dependency, anxiety and gender relations within families. Drawing on extensive professional experience the contributors combine a psychoanalytic and feminist approach to mothering which transcends the polarized and simplistic political debate about women's and children's needs. They also show how such an approach can inform and improve professional practice.

Wendy Hollway is Reader in Gender Relations at the University of Leeds., Brid Featherstone is Lecturer in Social Work at the University of Bradford.

Chapter 1 Introduction, Brid Featherstone; Chapter 2 The production and purposes of maternal ambivalence, Rozsika Parker; Chapter 3 Fathers' ambivalence (too), Stephen Frosh; Chapter 4 The maternal bed, Wendy Hollway; Chapter 5 Mothers and daughters within a changing world, Sheila Ernst; Chapter 6 Susie Orbach talking to Wendy Hollway about mothers, parenting, gender development and therapy; Chapter 7 The heaven and hell of mothering, Ros Coward; Chapter 8 In the company of women, Paddy Maynes, Joanna Best; Chapter 9 Part ing is such sweet sorrow, Caroline Owens; Chapter 10 Group-analytic psychotherapy, Sheila Ernst; Chapter 11 'I wouldn't do your job!', Brid Featherstone;