Save Your Advice and Offer Support Instead

Our guest-host, CNN's Alisyn Camerota, is joined by Bethany Johnson and Dr. Margaret M. Quinlan to continue the conversation about why so many moms feel like they're never good enough at home or at work.

"The threshold for women to be called a bad parent is far lower than it is for men still, and that's an institutional thing..." Bethany says in this episode.

The trio talk about how having a helpful partner can make a big difference when raising kids, but it will never make up for some of the systemic problems that exist, like the lack of good childcare. They also talk about a better way we can support moms and each other on social media that does not involve offering advice.

Our guests today co-wrote the book, You're Doing It Wrong! Mothering, Media, and Medical Expertise and share some of the historical underpinnings of why so many mothers struggle with feelings of shame and guilt regarding their kids. 

Bethany L. Johnson (MPhil, M.A.) is a doctoral student in the history of science, technology and the environment at the University of South Carolina and a research affiliate faculty in the department of communication studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She studies how science, medical technology, and public health discourses are framed and reproduced by institutions and individuals with structural power from the 19th century to the present; specifically, she studies epidemics and reproductive health. She has published in interdisciplinary journals such as Health Communication, Women & Language, Departures in Critical Qualitative Research, Journal of Holistic Nursing, and Women's Reproductive Health. 

Margaret M. Quinlan (Ph.D.) is a Professor of Communication Studies, Director of an Interdisciplinary Minor, Health & Medical Humanities and Core Faculty Member of the Interdisciplinary Health Psychology Ph.D. Program at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She examines the nexus of public perceptions of medicine, science, and technology, both historically and presently. She investigates the role communication plays in public understandings of medical expertise, illness, wellness, caring, treatment, health, and healing. Dr. Quinlan has authored approximately 40 journal articles, 17 book chapters and co-produced documentaries in a regional Emmy award-winning series (National Distribution with PBS and available on Amazon).

This Episode is sponsored by Landmark College in Putney, Vermont. It’s the college of choice for students who learn differently. Learn more at  http://www.lcdistraction.org

This Classic Episode was previously Aired in Sept, 2021