adminTHE fictional world is rife with stepmothers who are highly unpleasant – or even murderous monsters.
It’s no coincidence stepmothers today are thought of in a less favourable light than any other family figure.
Thanks to more than 9 000 international stories written about nefarious stepmothers throughout centuries – and the endless stream of on-screen adaptations from filmmakers – they’re frequently perceived as less affectionate, kind, happy and likeable, and cruel, unfair and even hateful.
The bias against them is woven into the English language: ‘‘step’’ evolved from the Old English ‘‘steop’’, which captured a sense of loss and deprivation.
Even colloquially, describing something as a metaphoric ‘‘stepchild’’ of something else implies its inferiority.
Though stepfamilies of all kinds certainly face challenges and conflicts that could reinforce some elements of these stereotypes, there’s no real evidence supporting the wicked stepmother caricature.
In fact, research shows that stepmothers can be uniquely beneficial to families, serving as the glue that holds members together after a separation, and providing extra support to grieving children.
Why, then, do these harsh perceptions persist?
And, as stepfamilies become increasingly common across the world, might these tropes one day fade into irrelevance?
Despite the strength of these tropes, however, there’s little evidence proving stepmothers behave like the heartless caricatures of popular culture – and plenty showing that they don’t.
“The majority of stepmothers get along well with their stepchildren,” says Ganong, who has read nearly 3 000 research reports on the topic, and talked to more stepfamily members than he can count.
“Wicked stepmothers don’t show up in the data,” agrees Todd Jensen, a research assistant professor at the University of North Carolina, US, who studies relational patterns between stepparents and their stepchildren.
In a 2021 survey of 295 stepchildren, Jensen found most had positive relationships with their stepmothers.
Participants were asked about how close they felt to their stepmother, how much they thought their stepmother cared about them, whether she was warm and loving and how satisfied they were with communication and the relationship overall.
In this sample, the average score for stepmother-youth relationship quality was 3,91 out of 5.
Today, it seems that stepmothers still face somewhat dubious perceptions rooted in long-standing stereotypes.
Modern media also tells more varied tales of stepmothers now, from the nuanced 1998 film Stepmom; to the relaxed, happy relationship Gloria has with her two similarly aged stepchildren in the television series Modern Family.
There is also the affectionate support a pregnant Juno receives from her stepmother in the eponymous 2007 film.
In 2020, a change.org petition lobbied Disney to finally feature a benevolent stepmother. – BBC.
Mathew Masinge
Online Reporter