I was just reading a post about women pictured on television and how far those female characters have (and in some cases haven't) come in the past 40 years. I am not a regular tv watcher, but I found it interesting nonetheless.
It concluded with the thought that "the realities of rape, women's ability to choose abortion without shame; the fact that not all women are hungry for marriage and babies; and women's genuine experiences of having passion for their work" are still not comfortable scenarios for writers/broadcast networks/corporate advertisers/audiences -or whoever controls these televised situations.
I read that and I thought "that's true," because I know so many ambitious, talented, caring and capable women in their twenties and thirties who could be wonderful moms, but are deeply ambivalent about whether they should or will ever have children someday.
For some women, it's partner issues - they haven't met a good man (mostly) or they can't see themselves parenting with the person they are with (value conflicts) or they like their lives as-is and are not sure if they are ready for the lifetime commitment that parenthood entails or they can't afford to have kids because of their financial situation. Lots of varied reasons, a spectrum of doubt.
So, I just wanted to put it out there that there are lots of fine ladies on the 'maybe, baby' train. And I don't see that stopping anytime soon.
1 comment:
So true! I am 29 with no children and a very uncertain future in terms of reproduction and/or child raising. It is frustrating, hurtful and insulting to hear on a regular basis the words "yet" and "when" being used to imply that a real woman must or should be a mother.
Incidentally, and I know some people won't like to hear this, but some of the worst offenders recently have been women who call themselves feminists, whatever that means in this post-everything world. I feel de-valued as a women when women with children talk about their identity as if it is the only way of asserting one's adulthood, especially because I make such an effort to respect and validate their choice.
Whew! Sorry, had to get that off my chest.
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