What is the reason for the prevalence of the “evil stepmother” trope?
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Aside from the fairy tales, human babies require A LOT of hard work and resources to raise into a healthy adult. Because of this evolution selected for mothers to release a cocktail of hormones at birth to create an intense bond and love for their helpless infant.
A step mother and step child have to create a social bond which like, any social bond, takes time and is often fraught with or impaired by complex family dynamics. It can be even more complex if the stepmother has her own children with the stepchild’s father. The stepmom typically has that chemical bond at birth with her own child and if her social bond isn’t strong with her stepchild/stepchildren it can appear or feel to the stepchildren that there’s favoritism. Sometimes there is, sometimes there’s not. Not to mention the step child feeling like an outsider looking in if they only visit their father every other weekend. It’s a lot of complex emotions and dynamics.
Of course there are plenty of loving stepmoms and terrible biological mothers out there.
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