Motherhood back in headline news

While I was away on my “unplugged” vacation, the Twitter war erupted about Hilary Rosen’s comments saying that Ann Romney “had never worked a day in her life.” I was hoping to avoid “Mommy Wars 2012″ because I am frankly tired of anything that is discussed in a Mommy War framework, but the conversation continues and I have found two articles that have motivated me to respond. Right now I only have time to recommend the following pieces, which I hope to be able to respond to in full tomorrow. Today I am caught in a time bind between organizing my house, and preparing for a policy meeting in Washington D. C., so I’ll figure out when I can squeeze in the writing. I bet I can get it done while I am on the road in D. C. tomorrow.

Worth reading, both from Slate.com:

The Faux Mommy Wars
There is no such thing as the “women’s vote” and the Mommy Wars were never real.

By Dahlia Lithwick and Jan Rodak

Amy’s note: this is a brilliant piece and I wish I had written it!

*****

The Conflict: How Modern Motherhood Undermines the Status of Women
Entry 1: Attachment parenting seems awfully joyless to me.

From: Hanna Rosin|Posted Tuesday, April 24, 2012, at 6:55 AM ET

Amy’s note: I really disagree with the way Hanna Rosin is framing this discussion. For starters, you cannot judge breastfeeding as a whole through the lens of women who have experienced painful and disappointing problems breastfeeding. I can write a lot about my experience with attachment parenting, which was both joyful and difficult and ultimately not for me. I’ll probably piss off everyone on both sides of this discussion in the process. I do remain a committed supporter of breastfeeding, including public policies and individual support to enable women to breastfeed. I would never denigrate a mother who could not breastfeed for any reason, but I would fight for the support that enables her to do so.