MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

From a feminist media studies perspective, this paper examines postfeminist discourses and activities surrounding mothering, new domesticity and Pinterest.This paper argues that while crunchy momma Pinterest boards reflect and re-traditionalize the rhetoric of choice that infuses other postfeminist discourses in American popular culture that privilege upper middle class white women and dismiss notions of egalitarian parenting, they also reveal and challenge core myths and representations of patriarchal motherhood, including neoliberal constructions of consumption, individualism and domestic work. Methodologically, this study is based on participant observation and open-ended, in-depth interviews (virtual and face to face). It also analyzes more than 100 Pinterest boards and other selected projects (e.g., websites) produced by crunchy mommas. Collectively, these qualitative research tools help to uncover and reveal five core practices of Pinterest crunchy mommas: curating, networking, appropriating, assessment and editing. These interactive forms of online domestic labor are performative. They are deployed to create, promote and enforce a specific form of intensive mothering. Significantly, sisterly solicitation and assessment by other pinners play an important role in the pleasures, problems and agreeable maternal practices associated with new “momisms.” While crunchy momma boards seem to provide an affirmative, female-friendly space to access culturally relevant knowledge and skills, they also foster a culture of self-policing that reproduces social inequalities. This paper concludes by examining the public consequences of online crunchy mothering and the distinctive challenges of conducting feminist media research in the ‘post audience’ age.