Stepmonster : a new look at why real stepmothers think, feel, and act the way we do
(Book)

Originally published: Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 281-329)

Half of all women in the United States will live with or marry a man with children. And what woman with stepchildren has not -- in order to defuse the often overwhelming challenges and anxieties she experiences -- referred to herself as a "stepmonster"? This book illuminates the harrowing process of becoming a stepmother, exposes the myths and realities of being married to a man with children, counteracts the prevailing notion that stepmothers are solely responsible for the problems they encounter, identifies the five "step-dilemmas" that create conflict, and considers the emotional and social challenges men with children face when they remarry. The author also sheds light on the history of stepmothering and the previously overlooked legacy of women with stepchildren everywhere. The author also shows why the myth of the Wicked Stepmother is at once an elaborate cultural fiction and our single best tool for understanding who real stepmothers are and how they feel.