DEMYSTIFICATION OF MATERNAL IDEOLOGIES – MATERNAL INSTINCT
DEMYSTIFICATION OF MATERNAL IDEOLOGIES – MATERNAL INSTINCT

Author(s): Viktorija Borovska
Subject(s): Social Sciences, Gender Studies, Sociology
Published by: Institut za filozofiju i društvenu teoriju
Keywords: Maternal instinct; Social construction; Motherhood myths; Postnatal depression
Summary/Abstract: One of the components frequently associated with living up to the myth of a “good mother”, one that is completely dedicated, who sacrifices herself and who should know what the proper, best way of rearing and educating children is, is the possession of maternal instinct. The experiencing of mothers with regard to child rearing, starting from the first moments after the child is born, is frequently defined and attributed to the existence of the so called maternal instinct. Maybe one of the strongest arguments of the normative patriarchal discourse with respect to maternity and the “natural” role of the mother, which is almost never analysed, is the existence of the maternal instinct. This understanding is so widely accepted that it is receiving the status of “common knowledge”. But the expectations of motherhood and the assumption that maternal instinct exists, which switches on when the child is born, are not at all “benign”, especially not for the individuals that dominantly do the bearing and rearing of children the mothers (both biological and non biological ones). But let’s start by defining the terms “instinct” and “maternal instinct”.

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