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Abstract

This article examines how information about childhood care available on social media affects the construction of ideal Indonesian mothers. Specifically, I pay closer attention to how women's roles and experiences in stunting prevention campaigns are portrayed and enacted online in the context of the digital socialization of these programs. Based on online ethnographic research from 2021-2023, which examined social media accounts of healthcare professionals and mothers, this article explores the construction of “ideal” motherhood within the digital realm of stunting programs. As health care professionals’ social media accounts carried messages and embodied the authoritative power of medical knowledge, they helped foster a digital health community with an explicit interest in childhood care. The results of this study suggest that the images of subordinate mothers and wives are no longer the only representation of ideal Indonesian mothers. Having been normalized as the primary caregiver, mothers are increasingly taught to think about childcare in a similar way to how the Indonesian state views children as valuable future economic assets in stunting programs. Whereas selflessness and self-sacrifice remain important qualities of the so-called good mother, being knowledgeable and practicing future-oriented parenting are additional important properties that a mother should have to fight against a child's growth being stunted.

Bahasa Abstract

Artikel ini mengeksplorasi bagaimana informasi tentang pengasuhan anak yang tersedia di media sosial mempengaruhi konstruksi ibu Indonesia yang ideal. Secara khusus, saya memberikan perhatian lebih pada bagaimana peran dan pengalaman perempuan dalam kampanye pencegahan stunting digambarkan dan ditentukan dalam konteks sosialisasi digital dari program stunting tersebut. Berdasarkan penelitian etnografi digital dari tahun 2021-2023 terhadap akun media sosial milik profesional kesehatan dan ibu-ibu, artikel ini melihat proses pembentukan gagasan ibu yang ideal dalam konteks sosialisasi digital program stunting dengan menggunakan konsep “ibuisme negara.” Oleh karena akun-akun milik tenaga kesehatan mewakili dan mewujud sebagai bentuk kekuatan otoritatif pengetahuan medis, mereka hadir sebagai bagian dari upaya membina komunitas kesehatan digital dengan minat eksplisit pada perawatan anak. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa citra ibu dan istri yang tersubordinasi bukan lagi satu-satunya representasi ibu ideal Indonesia. Setelah sekian lama dinormalisasi sebagai pengasuh utama, melalui diskursus yang dibawa dalam program stunting para ibu diajak berpikir tentang pengasuhan anak seperti cara negara memandang mereka sebagai aset ekonomi masa depan yang berharga. Tanpa pamrih dan rela berkorban tetap dianggap sebagai kualitas penting dari seorang ibu yang baik, akan tetapi pengasuh yang berpengetahuan dan berorientasi pada masa depan adalah sifat tambahan penting yang harus dimiliki seorang ibu untuk mengatasi persoalan stunting.

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