Challenging Motherhood(s)

Wallbank, Julie

• Author's Acknowledgements -- Publisher's Acknowledgements -- Chapter I -- Theorizing mothers: a Foucauldian approach -- Foucault's theory of discourse -- Foucault and normalization -- A feminist critique of Foucault -- Returning the Subject to the subject of women's poverty -- The utility of experience -- Talking principles/evacuating the Subject -- Chapter 2 -- Dissident mothers -- The case of the lesbian mother -- No sex for the single mother -- The case of the teenage mother -- Summary -- Chapter 3 -- Mothers know best? Not in this court -- The judicial response -- The legal framework for decisions -- Right to contact: the case law -- Prospects for reform -- Summary -- Chapter 4 -- Fathers as 'victims': mounting a challenge to mothers -- Fathers in absentia: not guilty? -- Legitimate(d) father absence? -- Problematizing father absence in lone parent households -- Constructing the 'feckless father' -- The construction of a 'new' fatherhood -- Constructing the climate for change -- Summary -- Chapter 5 -- 'For the sake of the children': occluding maternal desire -- The study -- Trying mother: the case of Heidi Colwell -- The significance of 'needs' discourse -- Summary -- Beyond conclusion: some notes for the future -- Bibliography -- Index.