A grand title for a post that’s really just a note to myself. I’ve been looking around the internet for some substantial talk about feminism and motherhood and I’m sad to say that it’s looking pretty bleak. I did find this amazing site, The Mothers Movement Online, which I’m very excited to devour and have been doing for the last few days. Really substantive and insightful articles about a variety of topics to do with motherhood by some deep-thinking moms.
Another mini-theme emerging in my searches though is the bad-mom feminist expose… re: Alice Walker and Susan Sontag so far, I’m sure there are plenty more where that came from though. The Alice/Rebecca Walker one bothers me in particular because Rebecca Walker is a public, active, accomplished feminist! So why can’t she tell her story as “my mom was a bad mom” vs. “my mom is a bad mom because she was too much of a feminist” and why is she going for the Daily Mail and GMA I wonder… Certainly I think motherhood needs to be brought into the discussion more, but is going to mainstream sources that can’t seem to help but sensationalize really the way to make progress on that front?
I want to hear more about moms who are able to think AND be present for the kids. You know, life/think balance. Work is for the birds….
I’m sure you haven’t leafed through a copy of MRR for possibly a lifetime but a long-time columnist, Jessica Mills, covers raising kids. She tours with bands, frets over letting the children watch TV, assorted struggles between wanting to live as herself and raise a family:
http://mymotherwearscombatboots.blogspot.com/