Germaine Greer : concept of motherhood has 'been deconstructed'

am946745

Is motherhood important? Can a Man replace a Females role as mother to the same extent?

I know many children who have lost their mother, I have yet to meet a person who said the role of their mother was not important.

Torakx

http://www.labrys.net.br/labrys22/libre/tazi.htm
This is an interesting read.
Over the halfway mark the author writes on Native tribes social structures.
It seems a lot of them, before missionaries/christians arrived, were matriarchal for the most part, concerning the raising of children.
Personally I see the "nuclear family" as detrimental and illogical.
It only takes for one of the parents to be disturbed or have some issue, whereby it seriously effects the children and can carry on to spread down through generations.
The tribal method in some cases has many women taking care of allthe children. Some where the children calleveryone mother as a title and maynot even know who their biological mother is.
In my view this seems more logical when considering child abuse in the nuclear family unit. Not to say that I think a convent full of nuns is a good example of this mechanic.
With more adults closer to more children, it might be more likely that the group ethos will prevail. A father or mother will have a harder time of things when using violence against another member.

I think a man can replace a mothers role to some extent.
But I also see an issue with nurturing in the early years. A woman apparently is preferred to have breast fed their kids for 18 months or more.
Then there is that bond created from that nurture.
At what stage is it safe for a man to replace that psychological and physichal bond?

I am thinking if a male grows up to feel like a woman on the inside, it should then be possible for that male to take on the mothers role, if that bond is ok to break or be replaced. Just a guess though.
I haven't researched that one at all... But if two men can adopt a child, it must have been confirmed right?
Maybe I seem sexist writing that..
I think women with a strong male archetype or masculine personality traits/qualities are not great nurturers either. Somehow nurture seems important to the early development of children. Maybe a deepsense of security, to encourage growth.

---

My own personal opinion and feelings at the moment, is that up until around age 6 or so, a child should be close to it's biological mother.
If that is impossible, then it may not matter so much. Only that the child will probably orientate toward role models who provide security or nurture.
If the child has been broken from that maternal bond before a sense of self has been firmly established/rooted, I think the child is more likely to orientate towards security and repress nurture related emotions.

Really I think it comes down to the mother child situation over the first 6 years. With regards to security, stability and growth.
After that I would imagine children find their role models, male and female, in their environment and begin to mimic.

silverfeather

She is one of the feminists I actually don't like. She is trans-phobic, extreme, illogical and rude without reason.

Torakx

But on this topic, does she have a valid point?