The Images Shared by Momfluencers: When Women Are Paid To Post About Motherhood Online, Is What We See Real?

Sara Petersen on the performance of motherhood across social media—while the actual labor of mothering remains hidden.

Despite the beautiful, picture-perfect moments of motherhood captured on Instagram, the actual act of mothering is, in fact, extremely hard work.

When I'm pushing a stroller up a hill, sweating profusely while carrying the crying child who refuses to sit, when I’m wrestling a car seat into a rental car after 14 hours of travel, all I can do is rein in m…