Let me start off by saying that I am not a feminist, environmentalist or democrat however I do a pretty good job of blurring the lines between, democrat/republican, feminist/masogonist and environmentalist/get yer hippy b.s. out of my yard! What I mean to say is that I am constantly finding myself in the middle. I think that Keith Oberman, Shaun Hannity, Glenn Beck and Rachel Maddow should all be given a controversal news topic and then sent to a remote desert island to fight to the death about the subject.
I think that no matter how far women make it in the world we are still just expected to get married and have babies. We go to school only to meet guys to father our children. We spend massive amounts of money on our degrees only to never use them again because we now have children to take care of. Don't get me wrong there are a lot of working mothers out there but I don't know if I really agree with that either. We live in a society that wants our cake, that wants to eat our cake and that wants to start a massive food fight with the leftover cake. Audry Hepburn once said that she didn't want children because it would cause her to be a bad parent and a bad professional. It would hurt all aspects of her life. On the other hand we are currently living in a double in-come society. If both parents don't work it's almost impossible to support a family. I don't really have any answers to this situation (the only time I will admit to NOT having an answer) but I think this is an important subject to talk about out in the open.
In these times is it really so selfish to just not want children? Is it really so selfish to be a stay-at-home mom? Is it really so selfish to have a successful career and no children? No matter how far women's rights advance we are still mostly valued for our reproductive capabilities and how we use that asset. Almost all female controversy stems from this unique capability; birth control, abortion, IVF, STD's, sex education. I might not have an answer to any of these touchy subjects but I would appreciate a more open dialogue about them without fear of persecution or just being called "selfish" for not complying to the status quo.