Connection Over Perfection

While scrolling through social media, mothers may find more than memes — they might also find connection, particularly as they navigate the challenges of raising children. For Sarah Walden,Ph.D., associate professor of rhetoric in the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core and director of the University Scholars Program, these posts represent a significant cultural shift.

Walden’s research explores maternal failure rhetoric, a form of digital humor that highlights the challenges of motherhood and the unrealistic standards women are often expected to meet. By examining content on Instagram before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, Walden identified a clear change in tone.

“In 2020, many posts reflected a personal sense of failure,” Walden said. “Mothers felt like they could not meet everyone’s needs. But by 2022, creators were more likely to talk about the failure of systems. They were saying this is too much because the structures meant to help us are broken.”

While raising her young son, Walden went from witnessing relatable parenting content to launching a formal study into how humor helps mothers process pressure, build community and critique cultural norms.

“Motherhood is isolating in nature,” Walden said. “A woman is often home alone with a newborn, unable to leave due to feeding or nap schedules. Social media can be a space to see your life reflected in a way that alleviates that isolation and anxiety. However, it can also present an unrealistic view of motherhood that can exacerbate those anxieties.”

Walden’s research contributes to ongoing conversations about gender, digital culture and activism. While maternal humor seems lighthearted, she sees it as a form of indirect advocacy that helps women name shared stressors, push back against idealized expectations and question the cultural forces that shape their experiences.

“I want mothers who feel like they are constantly failing to recognize the degree to which that reality is constructed for them, and that there are ways to find community in humor,” Walden said. “Failure rhetoric keeps showing up, whether I am looking for it or not.”

At the core of all Walden’s work is a deep curiosity about how culture shapes language and how language, in turn, shapes lives.

“I want to understand the rhetoric that influences our values and behaviors so we can cultivate more empathy. Mothers are highly valued in theory but rarely understood. If my research can help add nuance to that conversation, then I think it is doing its job.”