The Pleasure of Connectivity: Media, Motherhood, and the Digital Maternal Gaze

Abstract By examining digital representations of motherhood, we can chart the emergence of what I refer to as the “digital maternal gaze,” a style of visual and narrative representation that highlights connections between mother and self, mother and child, and mother and audience. In contrast to the conventional male gaze, in which pleasure is derived from voyeuristic observation, the digital maternal gaze generates and depicts the pleasure that comes from connection and care. In this article I develop a theory of the digital maternal gaze and explore its implication for the subjective experience of mothers, the markets for digital representations of motherhood, and the feminist politics of pleasure-in-connection.