History Main / MotherhoodIsSuperior

* Subverted by ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'': Raine is Ellone's mother figure, but her bond with Laguna (Raine's main squeeze, basically.) is much weaker. However, after she gets kidnapped by the Estharians, Laguna goes Always Save The Girl, daughter-style.´

* ''RurouniKenshin'': In the epilogue, Kenshin and Kaoru have a child who is a boy named Kenji. A block of text clearly states "Loves his mother" complete with Kenji eager to hold onto Kaoru. Another block of text clearly states "Hates his father" complete with Kenji eager to pull Kenshin's hair when he tries to hold him. The kid is only a few years old, and it's not like the father has done him wrong or anything!

* In ''AIArtificialIntelligence,'' the father brings a robot son home hoping to "[[ReplacementGoldfish replace]]" their comatose real one, mostly as a means to distract his wife from the grief. When the wife manages to bond with the son, he becomes increasingly jealous and hostile.

* In Creator/CSLewis's ''The Great Divorce'', one of the damned souls thinks this is true. Her brother in Heaven gently informs her that her father and daughter revolted over her mourning for her dead son not because they were less loving but because she was obsessed and uncaring. At one point, one character points out to the narrator that she would gladly demand to take her son to Hell to keep possession of him.
* ''InDeath'' series: Averted with Eve Dallas, because while her father Richard Troy was a child molester, her mother, who has many names, is fully revealed to be evil as well in ''New York To Dallas''. At least her surrogate mother Dr. Mira and her surrogate father Ryan Feeney treat her ''much'' better! Initially subverted with Roarke, with Meg Roarke and Patrick Roarke being AbusiveParents, but then played straight when he finds out in ''Portrait In Death'' that his birth mother was Siobahn Brody, who loved him and didn't see what a monster Patrick Roarke was until it was too late!
* In ''TheRedTent'', Leah and her sisters dote on Dinah. They don't pay much attention to the boys after they finish nursing, since they go off to tend the herds with their father. [[spoiler: Except for Bilhah, who has an affair with Reuben once he grows up.]] Likewise, Jacob pays more attention to his sons than he does to his daughter, again on the grounds that men and women operate in different spheres of their semi-nomadic society.

* ''Series/{{Charmed}}'' has an aversion in an episode where Piper was depressed because Leo and her sisters were better at taking care of Wyatt than she was.

* ''FireEmblemJugdral'': Gen 2 characters except Celice and Leaf are naturally bonded to their mothers, as their fathers could be anyone in Sigurd's army. While most conversations express the kids' loves and desires to find their lost mothers, they tend to avoid discussing the same about the fathers altogether, [[spoiler: except Levin and Finn, if they are married.]]

[[AC:NewspaperComics]]
* ''CloseToHome'': One episode has a mother, father, and child. The child is put on a measuring device that determines if he loves his mother or his father more. The machine has its pointer on the mother's side. The mother and child are holding each other happily, while the father stands there looking unhappy.
* ''PearlsBeforeSwine'': Possibly deconstructed in one episode where Pig is talking to Goat about his neighbour. His neighbour had married this one woman, and everything was great...until the wife had two kids. Then the wife and the kids, who love each other, started treating him like a non-entity. The neighbour has come to the conclusion that she was only using him to get some kids. Goat tries to point out that there is more than one side of a story, and Pig agrees. Then the last panel shows the neighbour was right. The kids and wife are sitting on him, he gets milkshake on his head, and one of the kids says "I spilled milkshake on the couch again, Mommy." She simply says, "That's okay. I was thinking of trading this one in, anyway."

* Inverted in ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'', as it is men's responsibility to care for the children ... [[GenderRarityValue if]] there is a man in the family. ALso, it is expected of teenage brothers to care for their baby sisters, and the failure to do so ''is'' noticed by potential wives - Balin Brindle leaves it to his frail old father to care for the babies - Summer Whistler does ''not'' approve. She understandably wants to marry a man who is good with children. So, not only is motherhood not superior, fatherhood is not better than brotherhood, either. (As the aunts are considered mothers to their nieces, motherhood is not superior to aunthood, either.)

* A sort of inversion happened in an episode of ''Series/CriminalMinds'': the mother throws all the standard accusations at the father claiming that since he stopped doing things like celebrating their dead child's birthday, he didn't care about him. However, said woman is also going on a psychotic rampage caused by her grief while the father's subdued reaction is portrayed as more appropriate.

A DoubleStandard inherent in several works state that mothers love their children more than their fathers do. Presumably the idea comes from the fact that since it's women who carry children, they are somehow more "connected" to them -- or perhaps because of MamasBabyPapasMaybe. This is especially present in works where the single mother is so much more common than single fathers, and when they "come back" (for one episode because StatusQuoIsGod) they're usually unloving or unreliable deadbeats.

* This is apparently the entire point of the movie ''Film/TheForgotten'': Julianne Moore plays a mother still grieving over the loss of her son in a plane crash some time previously and suddenly wakes up to find that no one even remembers he existed, not even her own husband. She talks to the father of another child who died in the crash and he doesn't remember either and only when shown physical evidence of her does he finally remember only to be taken away by the mysterious force stalking them. At the end this is all revealed to be part of an alien experiment to test the "mother-son bond", and whether it could be destroyed. Apparently not, since despite the aliens' best efforts, her memories cannot be erased. Eventually the kids are brought back and the dads don't remember a single thing.

* Inverted in ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'', as it is men's responsibility to care for the children ... [[GenderRarityValue if]] there is a man in the family. Further subverted by the fact that it is expected of teenage brothers to care for their baby sisters, and the failure to do so ''is'' noticed by potential wives - Balin Brindle leaves it to his frail old father to care for the babies - Summer Whistler does ''not'' approve. She understandably wants to marry a man who is good with children. So, not only is motherhood not superior, fatherhood is not better than brotherhood, either. (And as the aunts are considered mothers to their nieces, motherhood is not superior to aunthood, either.)

* ''InDeath'' series: Subverted with Eve Dallas, because while her father Richard Troy was a child molester, her mother, who has many names, is fully revealed to be evil as well in ''New York To Dallas''. At least her surrogate mother Dr. Mira and her surrogate father Ryan Feeney treat her ''much'' better! Initially subverted with Roarke, with Meg Roarke and Patrick Roarke being AbusiveParents, but then played straight when he finds out in ''Portrait In Death'' that his birth mother was Siobahn Brody, who loved him and didn't see what a monster Patrick Roarke was until it was too late!

* {{Subverted}} on ''Series/{{Charmed}},'' which had an episode where Piper was depressed because Leo and her sisters were better at taking care of Wyatt than she was.

* Unintentionally occured in ''FireEmblemJugdral'': Gen 2 characters except Celice and Leaf are naturally bonded to their mothers, as their fathers could be anyone in Sigurd's army. While most conversations express the kids' loves and desires to find their lost mothers, they tend to avoid discussing the same about the fathers altogether, [[spoiler: except Levin and Finn, if they are married.]]

A DoubleStandard inherent in several works state that mothers love their children more than their fathers do. Presumably the idea comes from the fact that since it's women who carry children, they are somehow more "connected" to them -- or perhaps because of MamasBabyPapasMaybe. This is especially present in works where the single mother is so much more common than single fathers, and when they "come back" (for one episode because StatusQuoIsGod). they're usually unloving or unreliable deadbeats.

* Turns up in a lot of JodiPicoult books. In ''Literature/HandleWithCare'':

* Turns up in a lot of JodiPicoult books. In ''HandleWithCare'':

* Subverted by ''FinalFantasyVIII'': Raine is Ellone's mother figure, but her bond with Laguna (Raine's main squeeze, basically.) is much weaker. However, after she gets kidnapped by the Estharians, Laguna goes Always Save The Girl, daughter-style.´

* This is apparently the entire point of the movie ''Film/TheForgotten'': Julianne Moore plays a mother still grieving over the loss of her son in a plane crash some time previously and suddenly wakes up to find that no one even remembers he existed, not even her own husband. She talks to the father of another child who died in the crash and he doesn't remember either and only when shown physical evidence of her does he finally remember only to be taken away by the mysterious force stalking them. At the end this is all revealed to be part of an alien experiment to test the "mother-son bond", and whether it could be destroyed. Apparently not, since despite the aliens' best efforts, her memories cannot be erased. Eventually the kids are brought back and the dads don't remember a single thing. UnfortunateImplications all around.

* Unintentionally occured in ''FireEmblemJugdral'': Gen 2 characters except Celice and Leaf are naturally bonded to their mothers, as their father could be anyone in Sigurd's army. While most conversations express the kids' loves and desires to find their lost mothers, they tend to avoid discussing the same about the fathers altogether, [[spoiler: except Levin and Finn, if they are married.]]

* Unintentionally occured in ''FireEmblemJugdral'': Gen 2 characters except Celice and Leaf are naturally bonded to the mothers, as their father could be anyone in Sigurd's army. While most conversations express the kids' loves and desires to find their lost mothers, they tend to avoid discussing the same about the fathers altogether, [[spoiler: except Levin and Finn, if they are married.]]

* Unintentionally occured in ''FireEmblemJugdral'', gen 2 characters except Celice and Leaf are naturally bonded to the mothers since their father could be anyone in Sigurd's army. Most conversations avoid discussing the fathers' whereabout after the TimeSkip. [[spoiler: Except Levin, who's still alive and is now an important NPC.]]

* A sort of inversion happened in an episode of ''CriminalMinds'': the mother throws all the standard accusations at the father claiming that since he stopped doing things like celebrating their dead child's birthday, he didn't care about him. However, said woman is also going on a psychotic rampage caused by her grief while the father's subdued reaction is portrayed as more appropriate.
* {{Subverted}} on ''{{Charmed}},'' which had an episode where Piper was depressed because Leo and her sisters were better at taking care of Wyatt than she was.

* In AIArtificialIntelligence, the father brings a robot son home hoping to "replace" their comatose real one, mostly as a means to distract his wife from the grief. When the wife manages to bond with the son, he becomes increasingly jealous and hostile.

* This is apparently the entire point of the movie ''Film/TheForgotten'': Julianne Moore plays a mother still grieving over the loss of her son in a plane crash some time previously and suddenly wakes up to find that no one even remembers he existed, not even her own husband. She talks to the father of another child who died in the crash and he doesn't remember he either and only when shown physical evidence of her does he finally remember only to be taken away by the mysterious force stalking them. At the end this is all revealed to be part of an alien experiment to test the "mother-son bond", and whether it could be destroyed. Apparently not, since despite the aliens' best efforts, her memories cannot be erased. Eventually the kids are brought back and the dads don't remember a single thing. UnfortunateImplications all around.

* ''InDeath'' series: Subverted with Eve Dallas, because while her father Richard Troy was a CompleteMonster and child molester, her mother, who has many names, is fully revealed to be a CompleteMonster as well in ''New York To Dallas''. At least her surrogate mother Dr. Mira and her surrogate father Ryan Feeney treat her ''much'' better! Initially subverted with Roarke, with Meg Roarke and Patrick Roarke being both AbusiveParents and {{Complete Monster}}s, but then played straight when he finds out in ''Portrait In Death'' that his birth mother was Siobahn Brody, who loved him and didn't see what a monster Patrick Roarke was until it was too late!

A DoubleStandard inherent in several works state that mothers love their children more than their fathers do. Presumably the idea comes from the fact that since it's women who carry children, they are somehow more "connected" to them. This is especially present in works where the single mother is so much more common than single fathers, and when they "come back" (for one episode because StatusQuoIsGod). they're usually unloving or unreliable deadbeats.

* Subverted by ''FinalFantasyVIII'': Raine is Ellone's mother figure, but her bond with Laguna (Raine's main squeeze, basically.) is much weaker. However, after she gets kidnapped by the Estharians, Laguna goes Always Save The Girl, daughter-style.´

A DoubleStandard inherent in several works state that mothers love their children more than their fathers do. Presumably the idea comes from the fact that since it's women who carry children, they are somehow more "connected" to them. This is especially present in works where the single mother is so much more common than single fathers, and when they "come back" (for one episode because StatusQuoIsGod). they're usually unloving or unreliable deadbeats.

!!Examples:

[[AC:Film]]
* This is apparently the entire point of the movie ''Film/TheForgotten'': Julianne Moore plays a mother still grieving over the loss of her son in a plane crash some time previously and suddenly wakes up to find that no one even remembers he existed, not even her own husband. She talks to the father of another child who died in the crash and he doesn't remember he either and only when shown physical evidence of her does he finally remember only to be taken away by the mysterious force stalking them. At the end this is all revealed to be part of an alien experiment to test the "mother-son bond", and whether it could be destroyed. Apparently not, since despite the aliens' best efforts, her memories cannot be erased. Eventually the kids are brought back and the dads don't remember a single thing. UnfortunateImplications all around.
* In AIArtificialIntelligence, the father brings a robot son home hoping to "replace" their comatose real one, mostly as a means to distract his wife from the grief. When the wife manages to bond with the son, he becomes increasingly jealous and hostile.

[[AC:Literature]]
* Turns up in a lot of JodiPicoult books. In ''HandleWithCare'':
-->'''Charlotte''': Oh, Sean...You're the best father. But you're not a mother.
* In CSLewis's ''The Great Divorce'', one of the damned souls thinks this is true. Her brother in Heaven gently informs her that her father and daughter revolted over her mourning for her dead son not because they were less loving but because she was obsessed and uncaring. At one point, one character points out to the narrator that she would gladly demand to take her son to Hell to keep possession of him.

[[AC:Live Action TV]]
* A sort of inversion happened in an episode of ''CriminalMinds'': the mother throws all the standard accusations at the father claiming that since he stopped doing things like celebrating their dead child's birthday, he didn't care about him. However, said woman is also going on a psychotic rampage caused by her grief while the father's subdued reaction is portrayed as more appropriate.

[[AC:Video Games]]
* Subverted by ''FinalFantasyVIII'': Raine is Ellone's mother figure, but her bond with Laguna (Raine's main squeeze, basically.) is much weaker. However, after she gets kidnapped by the Estharians, Laguna goes Always Save The Girl, daughter-style.´

* This is apparently the entire point of the movie ''TheForgotten'': Julianne Moore plays a mother still grieving over the loss of her son in a plane crash some time previously and suddenly wakes up to find that no one even remembers he existed, not even her own husband. She talks to the father of another child who died in the crash and he doesn't remember he either and only when shown physical evidence of her does he finally remember only to be taken away by the mysterious force stalking them. At the end this is all revealed to be part of an alien experiment to test the "mother-son bond", and whether it could be destroyed. Apparently not, since despite the aliens' best efforts, her memories cannot be erased. Eventually the kids are brought back and the dads don't remember a single thing. UnfortunateImplications all around.

* Turns up in a lot of Jodi Picoult books. In ''HandleWithCare'':

[[AC:ComicBooks]]
* ''SpiderWomanOrigin'': This trope is played straight to a ''horrific'' degree! Jessica was born to a mother and father who were involved in a science project. Her scientist father was unable to make any progress and became increasingly hostile and distant from his wife and daughter. When he finds out that his daughter apparently acquired superpowers from a lab accident that hit her mother while she was pregnant, he decides to give Jessica a lethal injection and use her body to further his project. Fortunately, he made the mistake of recording his intentions in his journal and leaving it where his wife could find it, read it, and then race in to intervene, MamaBear style! Jessica ends up sleeping in a special chamber for years, which causes her to grow into a young adult woman, but still have the maturity of a child. She discovers later that contrary to what she assumed, her parents are still alive and estranged. Jessica tracks down her mother, only to find her dead at the hands of Hydra goons...and there is an implication that her mother may have been raped! Jessica tracks down her father, who has been working for Hydra for years and was even writing in his journal about how spiders will dominate the earth and destroy humans! He is happy to see Jessica and grabs her hands, asking her bizarre questions, and she has to tell him not to touch her. Boy, that really gives off incestuous and possibly pedophile vibes! He reveals that he has no interest in leaving Hydra, and when told that his wife is dead, he blows it off, saying that she had it coming to her. At that point, Jessica rejects him, saying that she is her mother's daughter. She has a hallucination, and when her father realizes what is happening, he explains that Mentallo, one of Hydra's many minions, is responsible for her hallucinations. Jessica leaves, but not before giving him TheReasonYouSuckSpeech, pointing out that his own daughter had been used as a guinea pig by Hydra, and Hydra killed his wife, but that's okay with him, because he gets to continue his project. It turns out that he made clones of his daughter, and they are supposed to be super-soldiers used for taking over the world! One of the clones reveals that Jessica's father slept with her, which is major {{Squick}}! Meanwhile, Jessica's father has gone into a big VillainousBSOD (perhaps his conscience finally caught up to him by that point). MadameHydra comes to retrieve him, but he says to just go without him. She tries to point out that she can't do that, because he'll get captured and reveal too much information. He just sits there and says nothing. So she shoots him and says "Think you're special? We'll just grow two more clones of you!" Not only is this trope played straight, but it could be a deconstruction!

* ''InDeath'' series: Played with would be the best description. ''Witness In Death'' reveals that the murderer killed Richard Draco, because she found out that he was having sex with their daughter, he bragged about it, and threatened to make a threesome consisting of him, her and their daughter! {{Squick}}! Subverted with Eve Dallas, because while her father Richard Troy was a CompleteMonster and child molester, her mother, who has many names, is fully revealed to be a CompleteMonster as well in ''New York To Dallas''. At least her surrogate mother Dr. Mira and her surrogate father Ryan Feeney treat her ''much'' better! Initially subverted with Roarke, with Meg Roarke and Patrick Roarke being both AbusiveParents and {{Complete Monster}}s, but then played straight when he finds out in ''Portrait In Death'' that his birth mother was Siobahn Brody, who loved him and didn't see what a monster Patrick Roarke was until it was too late!

A DoubleStandard inherent in several works state that mothers love their children more than their fathers do. Presumably the idea comes from the fact that since it's women who carry children, they are somehow more "connected" to them. This is especially present in works where the single mother is so much more common than single fathers, and when they "come back" (for one episode because StatusQuoIsGod, unintentionally adding to the UnfortunateImplications). they're usually unloving or unreliable deadbeats.

A DoubleStandard inherent in several works state that mothers love their children than their fathers. Presumably the idea comes from the fact that since it's women who carry children, they are somehow more "connected" to them. This is especially present in works where the single mother is so much more common than single fathers, and when they "come back" (for one episode because StatusQuoIsGod, unintentionally adding to the UnfortunateImplications). they're usually unloving or unreliable deadbeats.

Examples:

* This is apparently the entire point of the movie ''The Forgotten'': Julianne Moore plays a mother still grieving over the loss of her son in a plane crash some time previously and suddenly wakes up to find that no one even remembers he existed, not even her own husband. She talks to the father of another child who died in the crash and he doesn't remember he either and only when shown physical evidence of her does he finally remember only to be taken away by the mysterious force stalking them. At the end this is all revealed to be part of an alien experiment to test the "mother-son bond", and whether it could be destroyed. Apparently not, since despite the aliens' best efforts, her memories cannot be erased. Eventually the kids are brought back and the dads don't remember a single thing. UnfortunateImplications all around.

* Subverted by ''FinalFantasy8'': Raine is Ellone's mother figure, but her bond with Laguna (Raine's main squeeze, basically.) is much weaker. However, after she gets kidnapped by the Estharians, Laguna goes Always Save The Girl, daughter-style.´

* ''Close To Home'': One episode has a mother, father, and child. The child is put on a measuring device that determines if he loves his mother or his father more. The machine has its pointer on the mother's side. The mother and child are holding each other happily, while the father stands there looking unhappy.

A DoubleStandard inherent in several works state that mothers love their children than their fathers. Presumably the idea comes from the fact that since it's women who carry children, they are somehow more "connected" to them. This is especially present in works where the single mother is so much more common than single fathers, and when they "come back" (for one episode because Status Quo Is God, unintentionally adding to the Unfortunate Implications.) they're usually unloving or unreliable deadbeats.

* ''RurouniKenshin'': Hoo, boy. In the epilogue, Kenshin and Kaoru have a child who is a boy named Kenji. A block of text clearly states "Loves his mother" complete with Kenji eager to hold onto Kaoru. Another block of text clearly states "Hates his father" complete with Kenji eager to pull Kenshin's hair when he tries to hold him. The kid is only a few years old, and it's not like the father has done him wrong or anything!

''SpiderWomanOrigin'': This trope is played straight to a ''horrific'' degree! Jessica was born to a mother and father who were involved in a science project. Her scientist father was unable to make any progress and became increasingly hostile and distant from his wife and daughter. When he finds out that his daughter apparently acquired superpowers from a lab accident that hit her mother while she was pregnant, he decides to give Jessica a lethal injection and use her body to further his project. Fortunately, he made the mistake of recording his intentions in his journal and leaving it where his wife could find it, read it, and then race in to intervene, MamaBear style! Jessica ends up sleeping in a special chamber for years, which causes her to grow into a young adult woman, but still have the maturity of a child. She discovers later that contrary to what she assumed, her parents are still alive and estranged. Jessica tracks down her mother, only to find her dead at the hands of Hydra goons...and there is an implication that her mother may have been raped! Jessica tracks down her father, who has been working for Hydra for years and was even writing in his journal about how spiders will dominate the earth and destroy humans! He is happy to see Jessica and grabs her hands, asking her bizarre questions, and she has to tell him not to touch her. Boy, that really gives off incestuous and possibly pedophile vibes! He reveals that he has no interest in leaving Hydra, and when told that his wife is dead, he blows it off, saying that she had it coming to her. At that point, Jessica rejects him, saying that she is her mother's daughter. She has a hallucination, and when her father realizes what is happening, he explains that Mentallo, one of Hydra's many minions, is responsible for her hallunications. Jessica leaves, but not before giving him TheReasonYouSuckSpeech, pointing out that his own daughter had been used as a guinea pig by Hydra, and Hydra killed his wife, but that's okay with him, because he gets to continue his project. It turns out that he made clones of his daughter, and they are supposed to be super-soldiers used for taking over the world! One of the clones reveals that Jessica's father slept with her, which is major {{Squick}}! Meanwhile, Jessica's father has gone into a big VillainousBSOD (perhaps his conscience finally caught up to him by that point). MadameHydra comes to retrieve him, but he says to just go without him. She tries to point out that she can't do that, because he'll get captured and reveal too much information. He just sits there and says nothing. So she shoots him and says "Think you're special? We'll just grow two more clones of you!" Not only is this trope played straight, but it could be a deconstruction!

* In AIArtificialIntelligence, father brings a robot son home hoping to "replace" their comatose real one, mostly as a means to distract his wife from the grief. When the wife manages to bond with the son, he becomes increasingly jealous and hostile.

* A sort of inversion happened in an episode of Criminal Minds: the mother throws all the standard accusations at the father claiming that since he stopped doing things like celebrating their dead child's birthday, he didn't care about him. However, said woman is also going on a psychotic rampage caused by her grief while the father's subdued reaction is portrayed as more appropriate.

* Subverted by FFVIII: Raine is Ellone's mother figure, but her bond with Laguna (Raine's main squeeze, basically.) is much weaker. However, after she gets kidnapped by the Estharians, Laguna goes Always Save The Girl, daughter-style.´