This post has got to be one of the worst I’ve read in a looong time. The misogyny coming from someone claiming to be a feminist (well, actually, she doesn’t claim it, but the insinuation is there) is something to behold.
As I said in my comment, the vitriol here against women who make the choice to stay home is one of the reasons I no longer call myself a feminist, even though I very much believe in equality.
The feminists in the 70s railed against women staying home…I understand the historical context–their mothers were forced to stay home after WWII, and forcing anyone to do anything will inevitably result in resentment…especially when staying home is characterized as “doing nothing” and “contributing nothing to society…”
Not only that, but the stance that abortions should be allowed at any time–even at the eighth month–are the reasons that feminists lost many women who were against that but believed in equality.
And sadly, that is still true today. Women who believe in equality but are against abortion or want to stay home are marginalized by feminists such as nonny mouse.
It seems to miss the point that it’s not the staying home part, but how culture values it. Our culture doesn’t value much of what women do…whether it is at home or in the corporate world. It’s the culture that needs changing, and that’s not going to happen by minimizing women’s role at home.
As I posted previously, other cultures, such as in Europe, provide support to women. They try to prevent abortions by preventing pregnancy in the first place–the ideal, for me. And guess what–they don’t have mothers having baby after baby (as the repubs and some dems like to argue.)
Many of those arguments are tenuous at best, but it is the continued reference to European abortion laws that most represent a convenient cherry-picking of facts to support the rollback of women’s rights. Many European countries do indeed regulate abortion with gestational limits, but what SB1 supporters conveniently ignore is that those laws are entrenched in progressive public health systems that provide quality, affordable (sometimes free) health care to all individuals and prioritize the sexual and reproductive health of their citizens. Most SB1 advocates would scoff at the very programs and policies that are credited with Europe’s low unintended pregnancy and abortion rates.
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More here on the women’s right to decide how she will give birth. I love this–midwives have been targets of a well-run campaign against them since medieval times when they have as good a record of healthy childbirth as physicians.
This will give one moment to pause…when you look at the statistics for the U.S. at the bottom– the maternal death rate in this country is 1 in 2,100. The article states it’s typically 1 in 7,600.
Pretty sobering in a country that likes to think of itself as such a beacon of healthcare.
Eagle 