I wasn’t necessarily angry about this. I mean, yes, I was upset, but corporations are corporations, and I’m never surprised when they do awful things. It is this understanding that keeps me working toward my law degree. We need better policy and legislation. So, other than writing a strongly worded letter, I didn’t let myself get too riled up about Isotoner firing a woman for lactating: that is, until I started reading the comments on the story.
Why are some women such traitors to their own gender? Why (?) do women say things like:
- “I have absolutely no empathy for this woman”
- “Employers are not required to offer special treatment to women who choose to continue breastfeeding”
- “Reproducing doesn't make you queen of the world, no matter what you think”
- “Choose the difficult path to breast feed said offspring, should not introduce a burden upon others”
- “as a single woman without kids I get tired of being treated as if I don't exist”
Those are real quotes. Real things said by actual women – the commentary on that story.
I hear this type of crap everywhere. Visit the iVillage “Feminism Today” board, and you’ll see the worst of it. When Sophie Currer, a 33 yr. old Harvard med student and mother of a 4 month old nursing daughter, requested time to pump during her medical licensing exam, she was originally told “Nope!” That decision was overturned (thank goodness) but you should have seen the comments from the so-called “feminists” in the meantime. Seriously, I'm embarrassed to be one of them some times. They said she should wait until she’s done breastfeeding to take the test, or said that it wasn’t anybody else’s fault that she got pregnant, so she should deal with the consequences, even if it meant sitting around uncomfortably engorged (and consequently getting Mastitis or an abscess). Or – and this was really the most laughably sexist of all the statements – she should wait to be a doctor until she’s done with this baby business because her breaks weren't FAIR to the MEN.
Yes. Women. Women said those things. Here is where I sing-song my famous quote “Women are the Problem with Women.” Laa deee daaaahhhh.
So a MAN can take a med-school exam ANY time – even seconds after his child is born, but a WOMAN must wait a year or two to take her test, all because she is tied to her biology and society can’t be bothered to accommodate her condition? I have a very, very hard time understanding how any person claiming to have a brain could say something so utterly stupid.
But they don’t just say it. They believe it. They believe the patriarchies' version of “equality” and that amounts to nothing more than a truly infected case of Stockholm Syndrome. I want to beat them over the head with expletives, but I fear the brainwashing is too ingrained and it won’t make a bit of difference. They have suffered so many thousands of years of painful cognitive dissonance that they have wired themselves to love the patriarchies' hate for them. It’s the only thing that takes the pain away, I suppose. It is too hard to come out of the cave, see the light, and realize you’ve only been staring at a shadow of equality instead of the real thing.
When once upon a time women were goddesses of fertility, these new “feminists” tell us it’s our “fault” we had kids – that they shouldn’t have to bear any burden because we chose to procreate. Oh really?
Somebody please raise your hand and explain to me who will be paying the taxes that will sustain this country if there are no future generations? I really want to know. If you think you’re so smart, explain to me who's going to be wiping your ass at the nursing home, or finding a cure for your Alzheimer’s, or even driving the ambulance when you go into cardiac arrest, if there are no more people being born and taking up these jobs? Who's going to pay the taxes into the system that gives you EMTs, and police, and transportation, and Medicaid, and Social Security? Do you think that when you’re 80, the 80 yr old next to you is going to be doing all these things? Obviously not. No, it’s probably going to be a 20-something year old; a child born years and years from now – maybe a child born to my children. So clearly children are not obsolete. And wouldn’t you rather have healthy, happy children who were taken care of by their mothers/fathers and by society? Wouldn’t you want the person in charge of curing your cancer to have those few extra IQ points and be in overall good health? Well, you probably didn’t think that one through too well, did ya?
Okay, so obviously we NEED future generations, I think we can all agree there. But you don’t want to bear them? Okay fine, that’s your choice… but if you’re going to put the onus on the rest of us to raise the people that sustain this country – and raise them to be the healthiest they can be – the LEAST you can do is show a little respect to those who’ve taken on this enormous task. These efforts should be subsidized, not shamed. I’m not saying we should get a medal or anything, but in a civilized society, those who perform the services you are not willing to perform are entitled to compensation. This is how a Republic works, don’tchaknow?
I don’t give a crap if you don’t want kids, or you hate kids, or whatever your deal is. But don’t you dare say you don’t “owe” me anything for having kids. On the contrary, if my offspring takes care of you when you’re older, or pays the taxes, or pumps your freaking gas, you owe me a whole lot.
Now, please pull your pretty head out of the sand and realize we're all getting screwed here – and not in the good way.
I love this post.
There is an article by Jennifer Block that touches on this very issue. http://babble.com/The-Backlash-to-Breast-is-Best-Why-exactly-is-breastfeeding-under-attack/index.aspx
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