the problematics of motherhood in twentieth century women's fiction

considered natural, conversely there is no such thing as the
'unnatural mother'. The definition of a 'good mother' could
hence be re-written as one who has the time, the means and
the will, not the blood or instinct, to mother.
The
capacity for mothering is therefore not instinctive but
imitative it is associated with the upbring~ng and cultural
condlt~ons under whlch women experience their maternity. AS
Oakley wrltes, the behavlour of women as mothers
owes nothing to then possession of ovaries and
wombs, any more than the behaviour of men as
fathers proceeds directly from thelr possession of
alternative genitals 11976 199)
thus dlscred~t~ng the definltlon that a woman is her womb
Further, rt 1s clalmed that the maternal xnstincr has more
to do wlth physiological foundations than psychological
phenomena
Maternal functions undergo a psychological
transformation lnto maternal love
Wlth maternal lnstlnct
belnq demcunced as a cultural flctlon, femln~sts d~scredlt
the argament that maternal love, a deslre so commonly and so
compellingly felt ought for that very reason to be
considered organic and universal
6.4.0. Marge Plercy's Woman on the Edge of Time throws up
an interesting and much sought after possibll~ty for change
ln attrtudes towards motherhood, namely the involvement of
fathers too In child rearing Wlth the firm entrenchment of
feminlst motherhood in our culture, Piercy's utopian vlsion