Womanhood, Motherhood, Childfreeness: A Comparative Reading on Elisabeth Badinter’s The Conflict: How Modern Motherhood Undermines the Status of Women, Tina Miller’s Making Sense of Motherhood and Corinne Maier’s No Kid

The notion of motherhood gains new meanings through modern changes while preserving its traditional references. It has, however, a content which categorizes women as “mothers vs. others” and it is oppressive not only to mothers but also to childfree women. The discourse of “ideal mother” creates many dichotomies and these dichotomies affect all women. This study aims to criticize the myth of “sacred” and “instinctive” motherhood concept and to discuss how mothers are affected by the expectations arising from the “modern motherhood”. In this context, construction of alternative motherhood imaginations and childfreeness are also examined as the contrasting concepts against “ideal family” and “ideal mother”. The study draws on a comparative reading of Elisabeth Badinter’s The Conflict: How Modern Motherhood Undermines the Status of Women, Tina Miller’s Making Sense of Motherhood and Corinne Maier’s No Kid, and utilizes the experiences of mothers from written and digital sources.