The Wicked Stepmother Online: Maternal Identity and Personal Narrative in Social Media

The stepmothering role is both a product of contemporary culture and an evolution of the traditional mother role. Although stepmothers differ vastly in their experience and their role in families, there has been little progression in the popular framing of stepmothers. Instead, the term has become embedded in an interpretive frame that reifies stereotypes of the “wicked stepmother” or “step-monster” and ignores all other possibilities. There are few alternative frames and no compelling ones for understanding the way that stepmothering exists in popular culture. Unfortunately, unless the biological mother is dead or dying, the stepmother is largely framed as negative. The circulation of the stereotypes surrounding stepmothers’ impact affects not just popular culture but the online discourse about and by stepmothers in social media. In particular, online discussion boards serve as a rich text through which to understand how stepmothers respond to and use the language that frames their familial role. In this chapter, we argue that the consistent negative framing of this role, understood in the context of Kenneth Burke’s “terministic screens”(45), directs attention away from the ways that stepmothers contribute to the dynamics of contemporary families and limits their identities to popular characterizations that range from selfish and uncaring to malevolent. The lack of competing terministic screens to understand and describe stepmothers constructs a linguistic trap in which the odds are stacked against the success of the stepmothering relationship with children, with spouses, and in the larger social network of relationships both on and offline

Evil is Part of the Territory: Inventing the Stepmother in Self-Help Books

The “wicked stepmother” is a popular cultural commonplace, but when women become stepmothers, many find themselves trapped by the cliche with few resources to navigate or resist it. In this article, we examine the rhetoric of self-help books, one of the few print genres aimed at stepmothers. We argue that these texts reify a particular identity by perpetuating cultural stereotypes, reinforcing negative connotations about stepmothers, and providing inadequate solutions to common issues that arise as a result. The books reinscribe the primacy of biological mothering and relegate stepmothers to a secondary status at the same time as they subject stepmothers to the contradictory expectations of intensive mothering. The privilege of motherhood is granted, deflected, and denied across these advice books. We seek to move beyond the negative expectations of this common parenting role and point to the inadequacies of the solutions offered in self-help books to expand and diversify the visibility of and possibilities for alternative familial configurations

Reconceptualizing Rhetorical Activism in Contemporary Feminist Contexts

Feminist activism has long incorporated the rhetorical strategies of public protest and confrontation. However, feminist thought has also produced forms of activism that both include and move beyond these traditional rhetorical options. This essay explores the rhetorical exigencies of contemporary feminist activism, and then examines examples of rhetorical activism that play an integral part in contemporary feminism, such as creating grassroot models of leadership, using strategic humor, building feminist identity, sharing stories, and challenging stereotypes. This activism contributes not only to our understanding of the rhetoric of contemporary feminism, but also extends the rhetorical theories of social movements and counterpublics to include alternative kinds of activist options. KEYTERMS activism, social protest, counterpublics, social movements, third wave feminism During the past 50 years, communication scholars have written extensively on the rhetorical meanings and functions of social protest, change, and movements. Whether implicitly or explicitly, rhetorical studies of social movements and social protest have suggested that at the center of such discourse is an exigency for change and a methodology relying on public protest. Although the women's suffrage movement, the civil rights movements of Equal contributions and collaborative effort were provided by both authors

Feminist Comedy\u27s Blond Badass: Amy Schumer and the Limits of White Feminism

Amy Schumer is a well-known feminist comedian.1 She wrote and starred in the 2015 movie Trainwreck (which grossed $110 million), secured a record-breaking multi-million dollar advance for her 2016 book The Girl with The Lower Back Tattoo,2 and continues to write and star in the Comedy Central television series Inside Amy Schumer. She filmed an HBO stand-up comedy special, Amy Schumer: Live at the Apollo, and she smiles on magazine covers ranging from fashion cornerstones like Vogue, Marie Claire, and Elle, to lifestyle publications such as Vanity Fair, People, and GQ, to entertainment industry publications Variety and Entertainment Weekly.3 She has also appeared in mainstream feminist publications Ms. and Bust where she proudly proclaims herself to be a feminist. As one of only a few women in recent memory to command such consistent media attention, Schumer’s feminist identity is notable. As a comedian, actress, author, and public figure, she uses her popularity to reveal and ridicule a wide range of gender inequalities, cultural absurdities, and double standards