Men Not Moms

What was Dr. Benjamin Spock’s role in the professionalization of the domestic sphere (i.e. the patriarchy’s long game)?

Spock audio courtesy of the National Library of Medicine.

References

• Atkinson, V. Sue. “Shifting Sands: Professional Advice to Mothers in the First Half of the Twentieth Century.” Journal of Family History vol. 42, no. 2, 2017, pp. 128-146.
• Backer, Kellen. Personal Correspondence. 21 April 2023.
• Beers, Carole. “Dr. Rothenberg was UW Innovator, Helped Dr. Spock and Mr. Rogers.” Seattle Times. 22 Jan. 2000.
• Bloom, Lynn. Doctor Spock: Biography of a Conservative Radical. The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1972.
• Cooper, D. “Dr. Benjamin Spock.” WNYC. 1 October 1973.  
• Dann, Joanne. “Wanted: A Dr. Spock for Black Mothers.” The New York Times. 18 April 1971. 
• Hulbert, Ann. Raising America: Experts, Parents, and a Century of Advice About Children. Knopf,  2003.
• Maier, Thomas. Dr. Spock: An American Life. Harcourt Brace & Company, 1998.
• Marquard, Brian. “Steven Parker, 62, Wrote Baby Guide with Dr. Spock.” The Bulletin (Bend, OR). 18 Apr. 2009.
• Needleman, Robert and Benjamin Spock. Dr. Spock’s Baby and Child Care, 10th edition. Gallery Books, 2018.
• Olson, Renee. “Book Expo ‘98: Plush Toys, a New PBS Show, and a Pediatrician.” School Library Journal, vol. 44, no. 7, July 1998, p. 15.
• O’Neill, Therese. “‘Don’t Think of Ugly People: How Parenting Advice Has Changed.” The Atlantic. 19 April 2013. 
• Public Health Service, United States. “For Children Because We Care.” 1965.
• “Robert Needlman.” Case Western Reserve University.   
• “Robert Needlman, M.D.” MetroHealth. 
• Spock, Benjamin. The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care. Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1957.
• ---. The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care. Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1946.
• Spock, Benjamin, M.D. and Mary Morgan. Spock on Spock: A Memoir of Growing Up with the Century. Pantheon Books, 1985.

Keywords
Parenting books, parenting advice, attachment parenting, patriarchy, topple the patriarchy, industrialization, industrial age, urbanization, Barbara Ehrenreich, shiplap, baby mattress, crib mattress, pigs hair mattress, baby care, red cross babysitter, red cross certification, pediatrician, pediatrics, grandma, grandmothers, grandmother, grandmotherly, aunties, systemic racism, matriarchal

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