Elisabeth Badinter

In the pathbreaking tradition of Backlash and The Time Bind, The Conflict, a #1 European bestseller, identifies a surprising setback to women's freedom: progressive modern motherhood Elisabeth Badinter has for decades been in the vanguard of the European fight for women's equality. Now, in an explosive new book, she points her finger at a most unlikely force undermining the status of women: liberal motherhood, in thrall to all that is "natural." Attachment parenting, co-sleeping, baby-wearing, and especially breast-feeding—these hallmarks of contemporary motherhood have succeeded in tethering women to the home and family to an extent not seen since the 1950s. Badinter argues that the taboos now surrounding epidurals, formula, disposable diapers, cribs—and anything that distracts a mother's attention from her offspring—have turned childrearing into a singularly regressive force. In sharp, engaging prose, Badinter names a reactionary shift that is intensely felt but has not been clearly articulated until now, a shift that America has pioneered. She reserves special ire for the orthodoxy of the La Leche League—an offshoot of conservative Evangelicalism—showing how on-demand breastfeeding, with all its limitations, curtails women's choices. Moreover, the pressure to provide children with 24/7 availability and empathy has produced a generation of overwhelmed and guilt-laden mothers—one cause of the West's alarming decline in birthrate. A bestseller in Europe, The Conflict is a scathing indictment of a stealthy zealotry that cheats women of their full potential.

How Modern Motherhood Undermines the Status of Women

The Conflict

Certains aujourd'hui encore voient dans l'opposition entre hommes et femmes l'essence même de leurs relations : naturelle serait la confiscation de tous les pouvoirs au profit des hommes, naturelle aussi la division sexuelle des tâches. C'est cette conception que dénonce Elisabeth Badinter dans ce livre, celle qui confond un moment de l'histoire - la prédominance du patriarcat - avec une constante de notre nature. Sommes-nous réellement prêts à remettre en question ce modèle millénaire ?

Des relations entre hommes et femmes

L'un est l'autre

Myth and Reality : Motherhood in Modern History

Mother Love

Au milieu du XVIIIe siècle, le petit infant de Parme, Ferdinand, est l'objet d'une expérience sans précédent. Désirant en faire un prince moderne, sa mère, Louise Elisabeth, fille de Louis XV, lui donne pour instituteurs l'élite des philosophes français. Convaincus que l'éducation fait l'homme, ils vont pouvoir expérimenter sur lui le bien-fondé de leurs théories. Alors que toute l'Europe des Lumières a les yeux tournés vers lui, l'enfant porte sur ses frêles épaules les espoirs de la nouvelle philosophie. Deviendra-t-il le prince éclairé que chacun espère ?

L'infant de Parme

XY Ē Andrikē Tautotēta

An Historical View of the Maternal Instinct

The Myth of Motherhood

Today, to be pregnant seems not far from entering into a religious order. There is an expectation that mothers will fit the bill of breastfeeding, nappy-washing, home-cooking supermums. So are mums who rely on formula, childcare and disposable nappies lazy or liberated? The conflict between a woman's individual identity and her identity as a mother is not unique to our time. In the 18th century, French women overcame the problem by shipping their newborns off to wet nurses. But not so anymore. Modern mothers are bombarded by advice from ecologists, breastfeeding advocates, behavioural specialists, even politicians. The pressure to be a perfect mother is overwhelming, and it's scaring women away. And why wouldn't it when the expectation is that your child will become your god and you its humble servant? In The Conflict Elisabeth Badinter, France's foremost feminist thinker, questions why our ideas of motherhood have been skewed by unachievable expectations that compromise notions of self and womanhood. No matter which side of the debate you stand on, this bold and revelatory book is essential reading.

Woman & Mother

The current sexual revolution has roots that go back a long way. With less reliance on physical strength and more on intelligence, sexual identity has been blurred. Badinter looks at the interaction of the sexes since the beginning of human society.

The End of the Gender Battle

The Unopposite Sex

Trente ans après L'Amour en plus, le naturalisme – qui remet à l'honneur le concept bien usé d'instinct maternel – revient en force. À force d'entendre répéter qu'une mère doit tout à son enfant, son lait, son temps et son énergie, il est inévitable que de plus en plus de femmes reculent devant l'obstacle. Si plus d'un quart des Allemandes restent sans enfant, c’est qu'elles trouvent à se réaliser ailleurs que dans la maternité telle qu'on la leur impose. Pour l'heure, les Françaises ont échappé à ce dilemme du tout ou rien. Tiendront-elles tête aux injonctions des « maternalistes » soutenus par les plus respectables institutions ? Jusqu'à quand sauront-elles imposer leurs désirs et leur volonté contre le discours rampant de la culpabilité ?

Le conflit. La femme et la mère

Peter Brooker

An internationally acclaimed philosopher and historian draws on biological examples, historical and sociological analyses, fiction, and biography to delineate the new man, suggesting that men need new role models and space for expression of male vulnerability. UP.

XY, on Masculine Identity

In THE CONFLICT Elisabeth Badinter, France’s foremost feminist thinker, questions why our ideas of motherhood have been skewed by unachievable expectations that compromise notions of self and womanhood.

In this provocative book, France's leading feminist theoriest claims that feminism may have come to a dead end. Yesterday's sterotypes imprisoned women but they also reassured and gave purpose. Today, Badinter, argues, their disintegration troubles more and more people.

Dead End Feminism

In this provocative new book, France's leading feminist theorist launches a broadside against the way in which feminism has evolved since the 1990s. After the victories of the previous decades, during which women had made some real advances in social and political life, a new sensibility began to emerge in the 1990s which led to a reversal in the hierarchy of values. The cult of victimhood has become widespread and has affected feminism. Women are viewed as defenceless and oppressed, social violence and sexual violence are treated as the same and a finger is pointed at the guilty one: man in all his guises. But by conflating real and false victims, feminism runs the risk of misunderstanding the battles that need to be waged and of losing all credibility with the younger generation, which doesn't see things see things this way. Preoccupied by putting men on trial, the feminism of the last few years has reactivated old stereotypes and left behind the very battles that have long been its raison d'etre - this, argues Badinter, is a dead end. A huge bestseller in France, this book will be essential reading for anyone interested in the changing relations between the sexes and our ways of thinking about sex and gender today.

La strada degli errori. Il pensiero femminnista al bivio

Die Freiheiten, die sich die Frauen einmal erkämpft haben, sind seit 30 Jahren zunehmend bedroht – in Deutschland noch mehr als in Frankreich. Elisabeth Badinter, Feministin, Philosophin und Bestsellerautorin, macht dafür die neuen Ideale von der perfekten Mutter verantwortlich. Sie flößen allen Müttern ein schlechtes Gewissen ein, die ihrem Kind nicht ständig den Vorrang vor sich selbst, ihrem Partner und ihrem Beruf einräumen. Das neue Mutterbild verhindert damit die Gleichheit der Geschlechter – und lässt immer mehr Frauen auf Kinder verzichten. «Wunderbar ist an diesem neuen Buch von Badinter die polemische Verve, mit der die Autorin – selber Mutter von drei Kindern! – die absurden Zumutungen dieses Mutterbildes herausstreicht.» Barbara Vinken, EMMA «Für die feministische Bewegung ist das jüngste Buch von Elisabeth Badinter eine Rettung.» Le Monde «Badinter hat recht: Allumfassende Vorschriften über den ‹richtigen› und den ‹falschen› Weg, sich um seine Kinder zu kümmern, können am Ende nur zurück in eine Welt führen, in der Männer Männer sind und Frauen wissen, wohin sie gehören.» The Times (EH)

Die Frau und die Mutter

Der Konflikt

Examining changing role models for masculine identity--from cowboy in the 1950s to Terminator in the 1990s, from flesh-and-blood man to machine--this book suggests that men need new role models and that sufficient room needs to be left for the expression of male vulnerability, a psychic space that would accept attitudes and behaviors traditionally labeled as "feminine." This new model, Badinter argues, may reduce the profound effects of homophobia and misogyny.

Elisabeth Badinter

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