Wow, that Guardian story is incredibly offensive. My internal obstacle to calling myself a feminist was precisely because of "a sense of horror and fear" of getting lumped in with women expressing this Rachel Cooke's view on motherhood. Adrienne Rich, actually, was the one who I least identified, her pride in leaving her husband and child to go off and actualize herself and her writing offended me, why one earth have women fought so hard for choice if we're going to shame each other when we utilize the freedom?
The whole point should be that we are all individuals with subjective experiences of the world. Our priorities will naturally be extensions of preferences developed from that subjectivity. It ought to be obvious that some women will fall in love with motherhood and others with their careers, with a vast spectrum in between.
Wow Clare, now I REALLY want to go back to school :)
I must say though that I am very privileged in where we live - the VAST majority of mothers here elect to stay home (whether or not that's for the children or themselves seems another thing entirely). Certainly there seems to be no judgment on the decision.
But believe me, there are plenty days when I think that the grass might definitely be greener and fantasize about a florescent-lit cubicle :)
Miss you!
8:24 PM
Don't you just hate it when you're all ready to get your rant on and then you realize someone else has already done it with FAR more eloquence than you are capable of? Yeah, me too.
"You Said it Sister"
2 Comments -
Wow, that Guardian story is incredibly offensive. My internal obstacle to calling myself a feminist was precisely because of "a sense of horror and fear" of getting lumped in with women expressing this Rachel Cooke's view on motherhood. Adrienne Rich, actually, was the one who I least identified, her pride in leaving her husband and child to go off and actualize herself and her writing offended me, why one earth have women fought so hard for choice if we're going to shame each other when we utilize the freedom?
The whole point should be that we are all individuals with subjective experiences of the world. Our priorities will naturally be extensions of preferences developed from that subjectivity. It ought to be obvious that some women will fall in love with motherhood and others with their careers, with a vast spectrum in between.
9:45 AM
Wow Clare, now I REALLY want to go back to school :)
I must say though that I am very privileged in where we live - the VAST majority of mothers here elect to stay home (whether or not that's for the children or themselves seems another thing entirely). Certainly there seems to be no judgment on the decision.
But believe me, there are plenty days when I think that the grass might definitely be greener and fantasize about a florescent-lit cubicle :)
Miss you!
8:24 PM