Feminism on the ground
As a society, we've actually had the means to allow women to be free from the stricter confines of raising children for years - the condom was developed hundreds of years ago, in fact. Childcare as a profession is hardly new. I don't know much about breast pump technology, but it can't be that complicated.
The change now is the desire, mostly by women themselves, to be free from these confines. Yet women remain to be pressured by society to make unreasonable sacrifices themselves in order to reproduce.
This article, about the hostile environment that women face when they do reproduce illustrates an important point. More than an important point, a crucial one for feminists. For women to gain real equality in this society, we need to pay attention to reproduction. Business does not need to be so inflexible. It actually isn't that inflexible that it cannot allow an employee time every two or three hours - at most, three times during an 8-hour day - for people raising infants [the next generation of Americans, btw] to produce breastmilk.
The attitude of hostility to breastfeeding women is held even by other women, sometimes even by women who wouldn't otherwise think they were sexist, but it is the very epitomy of sexism. Women should not be obsessed with pregnancy and pregnancy should never hold women back. After all, men do not get held back when they want to have kids. If we, as women, are committed to ending the bullshit known as sexism, we need to make it a lot easier for women to maintain careers and reproduce.
10 comments:
While I would consider myself a feminist, I do believe that having a child is an awesome responsibility. Regardless of who is raising that child (husband, wife, or partner) a family of moderate to well off means should not use day care. It is well proven that children are more psychologically sound when raised directly by a parent during those early years of development.
I agree with that sentiment 100%. Currently, however, the people [almost always women because that makes more sense with breastfeeding] end up with damaged careers due to long gaps on their resume. Our work society has been developed by and for men and women that do not want to reproduce. But not reproducing is not an option for everyone, and women shouldn't need to decide between a fulfilling career and reproducing. Men do not need to make this choice.
Bullshit. I've seen studies that show the exact opposite - that children in day care are better socialized and have better vocabularies. That's the kind of nonsense we hear day-in and day-out to guilt mothers into staying home. Because 90% of the time it is the mother who stays home, since women still aren't earning as much as men. Yes, raising a child is such an awesome responsibility that men are just falling all over themselves - nay, clamoring - for the opportunity to give up their careers to raise kids.
In other news, I found out that Monsanto gives employees up to $7500 towards adopting a child. I'm so working for that company when I get my Ph.D.
Oh, I'm totally shocked that Christopher's profile leads us to Clownhall.
entomologista, oh I know I'm soooo conservative that I've advocated for gay marriage, gay adoption, tax funded abortions and amnesty for illegal immigrants. I said that Kevin McCullough should be fired and that Tom Tancredo is the 2000s version of David Duke. Yes I believe conservatives need to hear from the other side to. BTW, while we can fight each other with studies, as a child of course I wanted to be raised by my parent rather than by a day care worker. Wouldn't you?
Answer my question first. If raising a child is such an awesome responsibility, if it's so rewarding as to be on par with being a world-class surgeon or a Nobel Prize winning scientist, why don't more men do it? The poor men, relegated to merely being astronauts and detectives! Powerless to wrest the exciting jobs of changing diapers and playing patty cake from the clutches of powerful women. So let's hear it. Why haven't men been rioting in the streets, demonstrating for their right to wipe baby asses? You know, since it's such a challenging job that conveys so much power and responsibility?
I saw something that said that children with lower levels of seratonin in their brains develop depression as they get older if they are raised with their peers. There is no problem when they are raised with their mothers and children with regular seratonin do well in either situation.
But it really annoys me when I hear MARRIED women (with young kids) complain about how worn out they are because of their infant. Sure, their husband works, and he "tries to help out in the evening on weekends", but that woman needs some time away from that infant. Good time away, to work on her own goals (career, life, etc), and that means that dad needs to step up, and employers should recognize this and allow time off for new fathers.
In addition, I have mostly good memories from day care. I played with other kids and learned things.
It is true that men in general need to do more to raise their children. Forget changing the baby, just paying attention to them is more than most fathers do. As a person who believes highly in personal responiblity, if you helped make it, it's 50% yours. If your wife/partner does more than 50% of the work kiss the ground she walks on.
I went to Sunshine Pre-School in Wis. Rapids, which was really a pre-school/day care. The day care kids stayed all day every day, but the pre-school kids only came two mornings a week.
I was *so* jealous of the day care kids because they got to stay all day, every day. On occasion, when my mom had stuff to do, I got to stay for the full day, and it was HEAVEN.
I'm sure my feelings about day care would have been different if I'd actually been IN day care, but...that was my four-year-old perspective. :)
I think it's also interesting to mention that my friend Leslie has a two-year-old. Leslie is unemployed at the moment (she's in that awkward phase between grad school and real life), and COULD watch her daughter full time, but she doesn't want to. She still wants time to herself, to write and even just to run errands without a two-year-old. She sends her daughter to day care 3-4 days a week even though she doesn't have to...just for her own sanity.
She says the only bad thing about day care is all the germs. When one kid gets a cold, they ALL get a cold. Oh...and the bad words. Her daughter has learned a few unseemly phrases from her day care pals. :)
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