Hathor the CowGoddess as The Perfect Radical Mama

Hathor the CowGoddess seems to be an outright representation of the perfect radical mama…and, of course, she’s a cartoon.

She uses attitude and wit to advocate for homebirth, breastfeeding, co-sleeping, and attachment parenting–all the things on the top of the to-do list for the mama who wants to ‘do things right.’  She’s egalitarian and compassionate; she likes to take deep breaths and “wallow around” with her children. But it’s important for the rest of us to remember that she’s only perfect BECAUSE she’s a cartoon. 

Hathor’s creator, Heather Cushman-Dowdee, explains that “a good portion of the time the comics are wishful thinking, how I want to behave.”  So she draws her ideal into the form of Hathor the CowGoddess.

“I think that there are tremendous advantages to homebirthing, breastfeeding and attachment parenting our babies….you can’t homebirth if you didn’t know it was an option. You won’t choose it if you didn’t know it was safe. You’ll have trouble breastfeeding if you don’t think of it as normal, do-able, watch it in action. That’s why I cartoon. To share.”

And before you start railing on me for even mentioning the idea of ‘the perfect radical mama,’ please back off.  She’s a two-dimensional cow.