The ideal mother in the XXI century. The representation of motherhood in family magazines

Abstract

This paper analyzes how those magazines devoted to the issues of pregnancy, childbirth and parenting delve into the model of «intensive motherhood» (Hays, 1998). According to Hays, this ideal of perfection is a major maternal emotional burden because it places the challenge of raising the womanmother. In this article we specify the main characteristics of the model and analyze its presence in the expert sections of the three most selling family magazines in Spain (Mi bebé y yo, Ser padres. La revista del bebé y la familia, and El mundo de tu bebé). To uncover the dominant narrative structures, we analyze discourse by means of narrative semiotics, defining the actatial roles played by the characters (mothers, fathers, babies and experts).