{"product_id":"momfluenced-isbn-9780807006634","title":"Momfluenced","description":"\u003cb\u003eHow momfluencer culture impacts women psychologically as consumers, as performers of their stories, and as mothers\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn Instagram, the private work of mothering is turned into a public performance, generating billions of dollars. The message is simple: we’re all just a couple of clicks away from a better, more beautiful experience of motherhood.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLinen-clad momfluencers hawking essential oils, parenting manuals, baby slings, and sponsored content for Away suitcases make us want to forget that the reality of mothering in America is an isolating, exhausting, almost wholly unsupported endeavor. In a culture which denies mothers basic human rights, it feels good to click “purchase now” on whatever a momfluencer might be selling. It feels good to hope.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMomfluencers are just like us, except they aren’t. They are mothers, yes. They are also marketing strategists, content creators, lighting experts, advertising executives, and artists. They are businesswomen. The most successful momfluencers offer content that differs very little from what we used to find in glossy women’s magazines like \u003ci\u003eGlamour\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eReal Simple\u003c\/i\u003e, only they’re churning it out daily and that content is their lives.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe flock to momfluencers to learn about fashion, wellness, parenting, politics, and to find Brooklyn-designed crib sheets printed with radishes. Chances are, if you’re a mother reading this (and maybe even if you’re not!), you are an arm’s length away from something you’ve purchased because a momfluencer made it look good.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDrawing on her own fraught relationship to momfluencer culture, Sara Petersen incorporates pop culture analysis and interviews with prominent momfluencers and experts (psychologists, academics, technologists) to explore the glorification of the ideal mama online with both humor and empathy. At home on a bookshelf with Lyz Lenz’s \u003ci\u003eBelabored\u003c\/i\u003e and Jia Tolentino’s \u003ci\u003eTrick Mirror\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eMomfluenced\u003c\/i\u003e argues that momfluencers don’t simply sell mothers on the benefits of bamboo diapers, they sell us the dream of motherhood itself, a dream tangled up in whiteness, capitalism, and the heteronormative nuclear family.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eMomfluenced\u003c\/i\u003e considers what it means to define motherhood for ourselves when society is determined to define motherhood for us.\u003cb\u003e1.\u003c\/b\u003e “Performing Motherhood with a Hashtag”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e2.\u003c\/b\u003e In Pursuit of Clean Countertops and a Shoppable Life\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e3.\u003c\/b\u003e Mirror Neurons and Cringe Follows\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e4.\u003c\/b\u003e Pretty\/Ugly\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e5.\u003c\/b\u003e Minimalist Moms, Cool Moms, and Unfiltered Moms\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e6.\u003c\/b\u003e Good (White) Moms\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e7.\u003c\/b\u003e Disrupting the Feed\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e8.\u003c\/b\u003e Cruel Optimism and Dreams of Motherhood “Destined to Be Dashed”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eAcknowledgments\u003cbr\u003eFor Further Reading\u003cbr\u003eNotes\u003c\/i\u003e“A deep dive into the ever growing ‘momfluencer’ culture . . . With an investigative eye and a sense of humor, Petersen sheds needed light on a key part of the social media landscape.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“Readers who find themselves endlessly scrolling social media with that particular form of envy and aspiration it all seems to inspire will be fascinated by this insider’s look behind the spotless countertops and cherubic children.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Petersen deftly dissects the aesthetics of good motherhood, skewers popular momfluencer tropes, and pokes fun at her own tendency to buy both the goods and the fantasy they’re selling.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eReason\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Petersen's investigation isn't only about the allure of momfluencers, but also about what their existence says about the state of motherhood…Petersen's insights offer a thought-provoking analysis of the ways in which social media is shaping our understanding of what it means to be a mom today.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eSalon\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Sara Petersen’s nonfiction debut is a fun and informative read for anyone interested in the ways we all sell ourselves to one another.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eGlamour\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Deeply researched…Petersen, using historical scholarship and feminist theory, writes with a keen awareness of how Instagram’s momfluencer economy perpetuates long-standing biases in American attitudes toward motherhood.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eGuernica\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eMomfluenced\u003c\/i\u003e provides a compelling, critical interrogation of how motherhood is performed online and asks readers to consider their complicity in how influencer culture unfolds.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eNew Media and Society\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Incisive and engrossing . . . Petersen approaches her material as both an avid consider and a skeptical critic of momfluencer content.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eLiterary Mama\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Incisive, illuminating, and prescient, \u003ci\u003eMomfluenced\u003c\/i\u003e thoroughly excavates of one of the internet’s most fascinating and insidious subcultures. If I could heart this book twice, I would.”\u003cbr\u003e—Amanda Montell, author of \u003ci\u003eCultish: The Language of Fanaticism\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“For women disappeared by the Cult of Domesticity, \u003ci\u003eMomfluenced\u003c\/i\u003e opens up the possibility of self-reclamation with a passionately conceived deep dive into modern motherhood as performance, commodity, and fantasy. An eye-opening must-read.”\u003cbr\u003e—Rachel Yoder, author of \u003ci\u003eNightbitch\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I started underlining until I realized I was underlining the whole page. An important, freeing read for anyone who has ever gotten trapped in the endless doomscroll toward being a better, more beautiful mother.”\u003cbr\u003e—Kate Baer, author of \u003ci\u003eWhat Kind of Woman\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eMomfluenced\u003c\/i\u003e provides all the delicious pleasures of envy-snarking on the neutrals of your newsfeed, plus the necessary catharsis of your favorite group text, with the bonus of nutrient-rich research into how race, class, and politics influence our cultural conception of the ideal mother and why mindful consumption might be the first step to change. I’m so glad we have Sara Petersen’s voice to unravel these complexities with humor and pathos.”\u003cbr\u003e—Julia Fine, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Upstairs House\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Reading \u003ci\u003eMomfluenced\u003c\/i\u003e is like having a frank conversation about motherhood, gender, and capitalism with someone much smarter, wittier, and well-read than I am. Sara’s vulnerable, incisive, and funny-as-hell take on momfluencer culture will stay with me for a long time. Fans of \u003ci\u003eUnder the Influence\u003c\/i\u003e will gobble it up.”\u003cbr\u003e—Jo Piazza, creator of the \u003ci\u003eUnder the Influence\u003c\/i\u003e podcast\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eMomfluenced\u003c\/i\u003e takes us on a journey to understand our own history of domesticity and how it affects so much of our culture today. Petersen unpacks influence through a lens of who has power in this country and teaches us how we can change the narrative for the women coming up behind us. A must-read!”\u003cbr\u003e—Eve Rodsky, author of \u003ci\u003eFair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much to Do (and More Life to Live)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Reading this book feels like having the best, most nourishing conversation about media, race, capitalism, and the collective public scream that is parenting right now with a friend who has done all the reading. Petersen’s deep research, smart analysis, and warmth makes this essential reading for parents who want to know what pulls us toward the endless scrolling that is an inescapable part of our twenty-first-century lives.”\u003cbr\u003e—Krys Malcolm Belc, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Natural Mother of the Child\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eSara Petersen\u003c\/b\u003e is a writer based in New Hampshire. Her essays about feminism, domesticity, and motherhood have appeared in the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times, Harper’s Bazaar, Washington Post, InStyle, Glamour\u003c\/i\u003e, and elsewhere. She also writes a newsletter about the myth of the ideal mother, In Pursuit of Clean Countertops. You can find her at sara-petersen.com, and on Twitter and Instagram (@slouisepetersen).","brand":"Beacon Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46302288937189,"sku":"NP9780807006634","price":28.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780807006634.jpg?v=1767732887","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/momfluenced-isbn-9780807006634","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}