One Bad Mother with EJ Dickson

One Bad Mother with EJ Dickson

From My So-Called Midlife with Reshma Saujani by Lemonada Media

February 4, 2026 · 44 min

About this episode

EJ Dickson discusses motherhood and societal expectations with Reshma Saujani.

Journalist and cultural critic EJ Dickson joins Reshma for a candid conversation about motherhood, guilt, and the impossible standards women are expected to meet. Drawing from her new book One Bad Mother, EJ breaks down how the idea of the “good mother” is a surprisingly recent invention, why modern parenting runs on shame and self-policing, and who actually benefits from keeping women feeling like they are failing. Follow EJ Dickson on Instagram at @ejdickson. Her book One Bad Mother is out February 10. You can follow our host Reshma Saujani on Instagram at @reshmasaujani and on Substack. Stay up to date with Moms First (www.momsfirst.us) on Instagram at @momsfirstus and with Lemonada at @LemonadaMedia. Thanks so much for listening to My So-Called Midlife. If you haven’t yet, now is a great time to subscribe to Lemonada Premium. You’ll get ad-free episodes and bonus content like me and Emily Oster talking about her thoughts on how often you should have sex. Just hit the 'subscribe' button on Apple Podcasts, or, for all other podcast apps head to lemonadapremium.com to subscribe. Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada…

People in this episode

Host: Reshma Saujani

Guest: EJ Dickson

Topics covered

  • motherhood
  • guilt
  • parenting
  • women's standards
  • cultural criticism

Keywords

  • motherhood
  • guilt
  • parenting
  • standards
  • cultural criticism
  • EJ Dickson
  • One Bad Mother

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Moms First, Lemonada Media

Books & works: One Bad Mother

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