"So the notion that all tribal peoples parent in the same “natural” way
is untrue. It’s also insulting. It suggests that “they,” unlike “us,”
lack intelligence and initiative; that they act out of animal instinct
and do not, as we do, create complex and unique cultures; that they are
somehow closer to the apes than we are. As a scholar, I consider this
kind of worshipful but patronizing attitude toward indigenous peoples a
serious error in the interpretation and analysis of human culture. As a
parent, I resent having to measure my civilized, bookish, awkward
approach to mothering against the supposedly effortless, natural
perfection of “simpler” women the world over . . . especially when these
“simpler” and more “natural” women don’t actually exist. Wherever you
find people mothering children, it is as complicated and
culturally-bound as mothering is here at home. The natural mother, as
such, is only an invention of Western “civilized” sensibilities."
-- Cynthia Eller,
Brain, Child Magazine
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