Mama’s Day cards for the stereotype smashing mothers in your life

Mama and child mermaids. Text reads: Gender is a universe and my mom is a star

Mother’s Day originated as an anti-war event, but it’s been turned into a way to push a normative idea of motherhood – you know, the one you see in that isle of Hallmark cards every year. The Strong Families campaign has put together a collection of cards for mamas who don’t fit the image of a Betty Draper housewife in a perfect nuclear family. The goal of the campaign is to acknowledge the moms who are erased in the commercialized version of Mother’s Day – immigrant moms, queer moms, trans moms, moms of color, single moms, moms parenting in collectives, working moms – the list goes on.

From the organizers:

The cards were designed by eight fantastic artists, including Nikki McClure and Melanie Cervantes. The images and statements acknowledge the many types of families: two moms, single moms, activist moms, professional caregivers. Other cards acknowledge mom’s dealing with loss, separated from their children by immigration, incarceration.
We know the traditional mother’s day celebrations fall short–so we’re offering our own way to celebrate. We’ll also be blogging for the next few weeks about the issues that matter most to our mamas.

If you’d like to follow the Mama’s Day activities, check out our twitter and facebook pages. The hashtag is #mamasday. 

You can check out all the cards here.

Boston, MA

Jos Truitt is Executive Director of Development at Feministing. She joined the team in July 2009, became an Editor in August 2011, and Executive Director in September 2013. She writes about a range of topics including transgender issues, abortion access, and media representation. Jos first got involved with organizing when she led a walk out against the Iraq war at her high school, the Boston Arts Academy. She was introduced to the reproductive justice movement while at Hampshire College, where she organized the Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program’s annual reproductive justice conference. She has worked on the National Abortion Federation’s hotline, was a Field Organizer at Choice USA, and has volunteered as a Pro-Choice Clinic Escort. Jos has written for publications including The Guardian, Bilerico, RH Reality Check, Metro Weekly, and the Columbia Journalism Review. She has spoken and trained at numerous national conferences and college campuses about trans issues, reproductive justice, blogging, feminism, and grassroots organizing. Jos completed her MFA in Printmaking at the San Francisco Art Institute in Spring 2013. In her "spare time" she likes to bake and work on projects about mermaids.

Jos Truitt is an Executive Director of Feministing in charge of Development.

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