`matrophobia`, `motherhood`, `mother/daughter relationships`, (`feminism`, `naturalism`)

The Complete Woman

Matrophobia and its effect on the Mother /Daughter Relationship

What is a complete woman ' The thought-provoking question opens the door to matrophobia , a term Adrienne Rich coined in her work Of Woman Born . Rich stated that matrophobia is the fear a woman feels of becoming her own mother , and that the mother stands for the victim in ourselves , the unfree woman (236 ) and also that the institution of motherhood finds all mothers more or less guilty of having failed their children when they are expected to create the perfect

daughter (223

Women 's lives have been touched , throughout history , by various events and life altering thought processes , such as patriarchal power , feminism weaving its way into numerous ages-fading and reemerging , the psychological analysis of a mother 's relationship with her daughter (s versus her relationship with her son (s , and the epiphany of matrophobia . Even with these historic markers on the timeline of woman ' what makes a complete woman ? Is she considered natural ' or unnatural ' when suppressing her wild side ' and who is she suppressing for ? Is this a sarcastic undertone , created by man to continue to make woman demure and delicate ' Is it a title woman seeks to attach to herself , yet it is hanging above the glass ceiling ' never to be obtained , only merely admired

The following body of work , along with various questions in conjunction with the intertwining s focused upon , explores the possible beginnings for matrophobia , by examining some of America 's history with the patriarchal view of woman , portions of feminism by way of the sexual revolution of the 1830s to the 1960 's , the psychological /sociological viewpoint of the mother /daughter relationship with comparison fragments of the mother /son bond , and the voice of Adrienne Rich and the defining aspects of matrophobia , to bring us to conclusion

The Male Attitude ' Towards Women

The male attitude ' towards women , historically , has ranged from having to protect and provide for the frail , demure creature ' to the destructive tone of domination through sexual relations and through labeling , sterilizing and controlling the female body , through way of obstetrics and gynecology

Woman , in her state of virginity , is viewed as pure ' and if unknown ' before coming into the state of marriage , she is considered a good woman (Fiedler , 67 . This stance of man 's view of woman came to public attention with Samuel Richardson 's novel , Clarissa , in 1740 this was one of three novels for Richardson at the time . Women were long placed on a pedestal , made to appear fragile and in need of protection fainting spells were the sign of a pure woman of the gentile class . Men were believed to be pursuers of the chaste maiden ' that men carried a sort of guilt ' in treating women merely as sexual objects to be obtained and dominated once the demure creature submitted to her husband or lover . Yet even with this guilt ' men continued and still continue to this day , the pursuit and domination of women...