Parenthood Response by Dakota Peschel

Parenthood is one of the most complete aspects of the human experience. It truly brings life around full circle, as parent births and raises child just as they were birthed and raised themselves. It’s frightening to think that the media influences something that is so personal and vastly different across cultures, yet there is a perfect type of parent: one who is always happy to clean and take care of the kids and has enough energy to do so, one who lives and gains happiness through their children, one who’s life is fulfilled because they became a parent. Keep in mind these traits only describe women. Men are supposed to only live in the business world, never is a father to actually depicted caring for the child. These vastly different ways that gender is portrayed in parenting is fascinating, and enforces the hierarchy that currently exists.

One fascinating point that came up in the projects was the fact that for the most part, women are only portrayed as being happy and motherhood is glamorized. It is something to strive for, something that every woman wants, and if you don’t, then there must be something wrong with you. Women are never shown looking tired and worn out, and especially in a world where many women work in combination with parenting this is extremely unrealistic. Women are expected to want children, while men are expected to not want to deal with them. In one picture in particular of a father, I remember that he held his child and had a disgruntled look on his face as he took a business call. The man’s role is that in the public sphere, they are meant for business and to provide for the children, whether they care for them or not.

In a culture where looks are everything, what should be most important and stressed is a loving household where children are raised to become good people. The superficiality of parenthood in the media is sickening. Parents are continually shown that they clearly aren’t good enough, especially when celebrities can parent and look good doing it, and People magazine even has a special section for them. Parents just can’t escape the media and the comparisons drawn from their parenting and the media’s representation.