Mothering (magazine)

Mothering is the bimonthly magazine of natural family living started in 1976. The current editor is Peggy O'Mara. Articles cover pregnancy, childbirth options, breastfeeding, educational alternatives, family health issues, anti-vaccination, anti-circumcision, homeschooling and co-sleeping.

History

Mothering was founded in 1976 and in the 80's, editor and publisher Peggy O'Mara took the helm of the magazine.

Web Presence

"MDC" or "MotheringDotCommune" is the web based discussion forum that Mothering magazine hosts. With a membership of currently 65,381 with almost 20,000 active posters this site is one of the largest Attachment Parenting/Natural Family Living forums on the Internet.

The discussion boards, like the magazine, take a stance against spanking, routine infant circumcision and the sleep-training method known as "Cry It Out" or CIO. Members are not allowed to advocate for these subjects.

While claiming to uphold Attachment Parenting/Natural Family Living standards of parenting, Mothering magazine editors have accepted advertising money from companies that are in conflict with these standards. It was discovered that the advertiser advocated spanking, which purportedly goes against Mothering's ideals. Mothering confered with an attorney regarding the advertiders contract and was required to complete the contract terms. After the contract expired Mothering never renewed it, however their reputation was damaged among many long time members of the community.

The pro-spanking advertising controversy is a facet of a larger debate centering around the increasing commercialization of the forum, as well as the magazine. Both were relatively ad-free until recent years, when a larger community, therefore more bandwith expense, led Mothering to seek ad dollars from a wider range of mainstream sources. The most recent being "Google Ads". The administration is working to filter out the inappropriate ads.

There was an issue with a volunteer board administrator proclaiming racists statements elsewhere on the internet. The issue was acted on immediately and privately by the administration. This caused many members to be outraged. MDC claims to not have official rules that govern the actions of members outside of the MDC forums. The moderator in question stepped down of her own accord.

MotheringDotCommune will not host any conversation on the forums with any form of sexual content unless it remains in the context of healthy parenting partnerships, as stated in the MotheringDotCommune User Agreement. [1] This rule has frustrated many members who feel this is a form of censorship.

The administration has been widely criticized for the User Agreement or UA that members must adhere to in order to be members of the message boards. The UA states, among other things, that the administration can choose to host, or not host, anything they choose. The UA also effectively states that the administrators can censor anything, at anytime, if they chose. Members have historically been told they can question the UA "privately", however most members who claim to have pursued that avenue to remedy censorship issues claim to have been reprimanded or banned from the site.

Many long-time members claim that the administrators of the boards are discriminatory towards them, particularly if they are a minority group. In particular women of colour and gay and lesbian members.

There has been significant contriversy regarding members who get banned from the forums. Many members claim to have been banned for minor issues or for discriminatory issues, however administration typically remains silent or denies these accusations. Many members take issue with this because they feel it is a deceitful and underhanded way to handle member controversies.

External links

• Mothering Magazine
• MotheringDotCommune discussion forum