| Subject: Re: Motherhood ambivalence? |
Author:
Maria
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Date Posted: 19:49:19 07/08/02 Mon
In reply to:
Jen
's message, "Re: Motherhood ambivalence?" on 07:24:49 07/08/02 Mon
>I wonder if it is a generational thing. It seems like
>a LOT of people in the Baby Boom and later generations
>expect too much from life in general--as if they are
>*entitled* to constant stimulation, fulfillment, and
>personal bliss. Maybe we have too much leisure time
>to devote to angst, who knows?
>
I read something once where the writer reflected that her grandparents growing up in turn of the century NYC were child laborors in sweatshops. If they ate, they were happy. Their children during the Depression went to school and got occasional treats (like fresh oranges, and were happy. As parents of boomer, they looked around at all the stuff their kids had in their nice suburban house and thought "what's not to be happy about?" And now most of us have pretty much have everything we need and much of what we want, and we still feel deprived, that we aren't getting the happiness we're entitled to and think that we are responsible for making our children happy. (I wish I could remember exactly how it went, it was better than this, but that's the general idea.)
>Contrast that with Naomi Wolf, who is all whiny and
>self-indulgent because ALL she has is a NANNY to help
>her with her newborn, and being a mom is soooo HARD.
>Good God! ITA, new moms need more support and caring
>than they get, but motherhood is not THAT bad, lol.
That's what I found annoying about the Beauty Myth. She's whining and complaining about how hard it is if you're not beautiful -- have you ever seen a picture of her? And in Fire with Fire, IIRC she had an annoying tendency to use her own anecdotal experiences as examples of whatever point she wanted to make. I also don't like how she claims to be the feminist spokeswoman for my generation -- those of us who aren't quite boomers, but aren't really x-er's either. Maybe she's representative of well-educated, upper-middle class white women who are able to make names for themselves by writing a book that hits home with many women and becomes a best seller . . . . but that's about it.
I would like to read the book before I criticize it -- I'll put it on my library list.
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