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This daring, intensely personal book challenges both conventional and feminist ideas about beauty by asking us to take pleasure in beauty without shame, and to see and feel the erotic in everyday life. Bringing together her varied experiences as a poet, art historian, bodybuilder, and noted performance artist, Joanna Frueh shows us how to move beyond society's equation of youth with beauty toward an aesthetic for the fully erotic human being. A lush combination of autobiography, theory, photography, and poetry, this book continues to develop the ideas about the erotic, beauty, older women, sex, and pleasure that Frueh first addressed in Erotic Faculties. Monster/Beauty examines these issues using a provocative, often explicit, set of examples. Frueh admiringly looks at the bodies and mindsets of midlife female bodybuilders, rethinks the vampire, and revises our ideas about traditional models of beauty, such as Aphrodite. Above all, she boldly brings her personal experience into the text, weaving her reflections on female sensuality with contemporary theory. These linked essays are as much a performance as they are a discussion, breaking down the barriers between the personal and the academic, and the erotic and the intellectual. Frueh writes passionately and beautifully, and the result is a much-needed exploration of beauty myths and taboos.

Skeptical Erections is a book of startling visual and verbal imagination. In his poems Sapeta describes the deception and self-loathing prevalent in the people he encounters in his world, including (or perhaps especially) himself. Despite their distortions, however, the characters who come alive in these poems are depicted with respect and compassion.

Since the earliest times in history, human beings have had the opportunity to express themselves by synthesizing the world of imagination and reality through folk narratives. Fairy tales hold an important place among these narratives. Besides providing valuable insights into the cultural memory of their originating societies, fairy tales offer a window into the psychological layers of those societies. The actions of fairy tale heroes within the narrative grant us access to their inner worlds, unconscious thoughts, and characteristics, thereby enriching our understanding of them. In this regard, one recurring personality type among fairy tale characters is the narcissistic personality. The narcissistic (self-loving) pattern involves seeing oneself as superior to others, often accompanied by an inflated ego. When examining the tale of Nardaniye Hanım, compiled by Pertev Naili Boratav, from a psychoanalytical perspective, one can observe the representation of narcissistic traits in the stepmother character. In this study, in the context of Psychoanalytic folklore theory and fairy tale genre, I analyzed the narcissistic character of the stepmother character in the fairy tale of Nardaniye Hanım. In the tale, the stepmother, who obsesses over her own appearance, is depicted as dependent on external praise. When her expectations are not met, her magnificent ego gives way to a darker personality, leading her to negatively impact the lives of other characters and commit various evil deeds against them.

Although stepmothering is a common undertaking in American families, little research has investigated the mental health consequences, and their correlates, associated with adopting a stepmother role. To help fill this gap, the current study examines parenting stress and participants' perceptions of their (step) children's regard toward them and the family as mediators in the relation between parenting role (stepmother or biological mother) and depressive symptoms. Participants included 60 biological mothers and 75 stepmothers living in the United States. Stepmothers reported more depressive symptoms and parenting stress and lower perceptions of child regard than did biological mothers. Further, the relation between parenting role and depressive symptoms was mediated by parenting stress and perceptions of child regard. Results suggest that stepmothers are at risk for depressive symptoms and illuminate possible contributors to this risk, providing important directions for research and intervention.

Abstract The present study is part of a wider research about conjugality and parenthood in remarriage and aims to investigate the perception of stepmothers about their relationship with their stepchildren. For that, a qualitative research was carried out, in which 16 stepmothers of the middle socioeconomic segment, aged 28 and 43 years, were interviewed. The results were analyzed according to the content analysis method in its categorical aspect. Six categories of analysis emerged from the material. In order to achieve the objectives formulated in this study, the category stepmother-stepchild dyad, divided into two subcategories: bonding with the stepchildren and participation in education will be discussed. It was observed that the relationship between the stepmother and her stepchildren, besides being built gradually, is crossed by the father and the mother who authorizes or shies away the bond between the stepmother-stepchild dyad. Resumen El presente trabajo és parte de una investigación amplia sobre laconyugalidad y la parentalidad en el recasamiento cuyo objetivo es investigar la percepción de las madrastas acerca de la relación entre madrastas y sus hijastros. Para esto, se realizó una encuesta cualitativa en la cual fueron entrevistadas 16 madrastras del segmento socioeconómico medio, con edades entre 28 y 43 años. Los resultados fueron evaluados usando el método de análisis de contenido en su vertiente categorial. De la evaluación de material emergieron seis categorías de análisis. Este trabajo irá discutir la categoría díada madrastra-hijastro, desplegada en dos subcategorías: construyendo el vínculo con los hijastros y participación en la educación. Se constató que la relación entre madrastras y hijastros, además de ser construida gradualmente, es atravesada por el padre y por la madre, que autorizan o cohíben el vínculo entre los miembros de la díada. Resumo O presente estudo é parte de uma investigação mais ampla sobre a conjugalidade e a parentalidade no recasamento e tem como objetivo investigar a percepção das madrastas acerca da sua com relação com seus enteados. Para tanto, realizou-se uma pesquisa qualitativa, na qual foram entrevistadas 16 madrastas do segmento socioeconômico médio, com idades entre 28 e 43 anos. Os resultados foram analisados de acordo com o método de análise de conteúdo na sua vertente categorial. Da análise do material, emergiram seis categorias de análise. Para atingir os objetivos formulados nesse trabalho, será discutida a categoria díade madrasta-enteado desdobrada em duas subcategorias: construindo o vínculo com os enteados e participação na educação. Constatou-se que a relação entre a madrasta e seus enteados, além de ser construída gradualmente, é perpassada pelo pai e pela mãe que autorizam ou coíbem o vínculo entre os membros da díade madrasta-enteado.

Review of Marilyn Francus. Monstrous Motherhood: Eighteenth-Century Culture and the Ideology of Domesticity. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins UP, 2012. Xi + 297pp. Index. ISBN 978-1-4214-0737-1.

Studies on the association between parenthood and subjective well-being (SWB) have largely ignored the growing population of adults who experience more complex types of parenthood such as stepparenthood and multipartner fertility. We utilize the ‘Parents and Children in the Netherlands’ survey (OKiN) to study the association between different parenting roles and life satisfaction, a key component of SWB. We focus on the adjustment of parents in later life, rather than at the moment when they are living with dependent (step)children. The analytical sample was 6130 empty nest parents with a partner (10.9% reported having only stepchildren). The final linear regression models, accounted for individual selection into parenting status (e.g., educational attainment), characteristics of current partnership (e.g., trust in partner), and quality of intergenerational ties (i.e., average closeness with all (step)children). We find that once those variables were included in the models, no negative associations were found between any type of parenthood and life satisfaction. Interestingly, we find that quality of intergenerational ties acts as a suppressor; once accounted for, we find that (1) stepmothers report significantly and even substantially higher life satisfaction than mothers with only biological children with current partner; and (2) that fathers with only biological children from an ex-partner report higher life satisfaction than fathers with only biological children with current partner. Therefore, we argue that in order to better understand the predictive validity of type of parenthood for individual well-being, the quality of the intergenerational climate has to be considered.

A large body of research shows that children who live with two married biological parents have lower levels of externalizing and internalizing behavior problems compared to their peers in other family structure, including cohabitating biological families. Such patterns suggest that marriage provides a uniquely protective family environment, though we know less about children in the obvious counterfactual case: married stepfamilies. While research suggests children with stepfathers have more behavior problems than those living with married biological parents, we know little about how children with stepmothers fare, or how children with stepparents fare compared to those living with cohabiting biological parents. We use the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) sweep 6 to compare children living with married biological parents, married fathers and stepmothers, and cohabiting biological parents. We find that family structure has no significant relationship with children’s internalizing behavior problems, but that children living with a stepmother and biological cohabitating families exhibit more externalizing behavior problems than do those living with married biological parents. Covariates that indicate both physical and social family environments must be considered together to explain differences in married-parent families on externalizing behavior problems.

This autoethnographic study unpacks Sonia’s experiences as a stepmother. Historically stepmothers are the evil, unkind villains in fairy tales. Most research about stepfamilies has deemed stepmotherhood to be ambiguous and stress-laden. This research explores how becoming a stepmother has impacted her evolving sense of self-identity. To do this we undertook an autoethnographic study of Sonia’s experiences. The use of authoethnographic method supports and challenges personal narrative. We reflected upon the specific situations that caused her to question, alter and sustain a healthy sense of self, so in turn she may create a safe and secure environment that supports healthy and ongoing connections within her stepfamily. We found that the growing pains of adjusting to a new role can lead stepmothers into positive self-discovery. Through this process it is vital that one remains true to one’s core self while provoking the development of self-identity within a newly constructed family form. This autoethnography offers insight to both stepfamilies and those researching and working with them to build a deeper understanding of the unique issues and experiences stepfamilies have which may be unexpected, complex, and diverse.