I am suspect that Miss Hirshman fancy herself being intelligent.
Posted on 06/20/2006 3:34:11 PM PDT by wagglebee
NEW YORK, June 20, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Linda Hirshman, a feminist US writer on cultural issues, has told the world why she thinks staying at home with the children is an occupation “not worthy of the full time and talents of intelligent and educated human beings.” She complains at length that the feminist movement, while making some gains in public life through legal activism, has largely failed in the one area where it counts most: the family.
She upbraids women who stay at home for failing the feminist agenda, saying, “They do not require a great intellect, they are not honored and they do not involve risks and the rewards that risk brings.”
Writing in the November 2005 edition of the American Prospect, Hirshman admitted that the real intention of the feminist movement was not “equality”, but to destroy what she calls “the unreconstructed family” of a husband and wife rearing children. She writes that the goal was to see as many women as possible abandoning family life for high-level professions and politics.
Hirshman a committed radical, was a member in the 1970s of the feminist lobby, the National Organization for Women (NOW), a donor to the pro-abortion political organization, EMILY’s List, and a professor of women’s studies.
But, she complains, the movement has “stalled”; while the “public world has changed…private lives have hardly budged.” Childrearing is still seen by both men and women to be the natural purview of women. She writes of her “shock” to discover that among those professional women whom she called the “logical heirs of feminism”, large numbers were leaving their careers to opt for childrearing.
“Marriage is essentially unchanged,” she laments. “The real glass ceiling is at home…Looking back, it seems obvious that the unreconstructed family was destined to re-emerge after the passage of feminism’s storm of social change.”
She writes, “this represents not a loss of present value but a loss of hope for the future -- a loss of hope that the role of women in society will continue to increase.”
Some of the women she interviewed confirmed her worst fears: they liked being mothers. One declined to be interviewed because she could not leave her activities with her daughters: “We’re all in here making fresh apple pie,” she said.
Another, an “an Ivy Leaguer with a master’s degree” described her at-home activities: “I take my [3-year-old] daughter to all the major museums. We go to little movement classes.”
The article ignited a blaze of online outrage from feminists and traditionalists alike. Bloggers and editorials in print and online editions of a number of magazines have run comments blasting Hirshman.
In an op-ed at the online edition of the political magazine, the Huffington Post, Ann Coulter wrote that Hirshman and those who think like her, are “expressing an intolerant world view that women who don't work are losers.”
“Hirshman isn't just expressing an opinion about what she thinks is best, she is saying that any woman who makes a choice different from what she espouses is unequivocally ‘wrong.’”
Coulter writes that feminism is losing its sway in public because it focuses on “problems that hardly exist…while spending precious little energy on issues that indisputably have a negative impact on women: pornography, sex trafficking.”
“If [feminists] spent a fraction of the time on these issues that they spend trying to get women to get their men to vacuum the living room, the world would be a better place.”
Morality has to come from within, else civilization would never have risen, nor religion. Not all people have morality bred within them.
Morality MUST come from within, otherwise religion would have little or more likely no effect upon an individual. Religion and education enhance that which is already present.
I would remind you that Adolph Hitler considered himself a truly religious person, Roman Catholic I believe. There are many, many more recent examples of punks who hide behind religion.
Morality is not specifically reserved to those who subscribe to any organized religion, and to believe so is arrogant and goes against the teachings of the Bible, IMO.
Yes, let that godless gene die forever....
No, what she is saying is, "everyone who doesn't think like me is stupid."
If she was cool with people being true to themselves and doing what they feel is best for them, she wouldn't be throwing this hissy fit.
Celibacy?
Sadly, my FRiend, this is why feminazis love abortion so much.
They can have their proverbial cake and eat it too!
I'm not for abortion one bit, but I'm glad alot of these feminazis are not reproducing themselves and raising children they can influence. Of course, alot of them are lesbians so they won't be reproducing anyway!
I would direct you to re-read Hirshman's statement about destroying the family as it is presently constituted. By her own admission, her aims are very clearly not so benign as you portray them.
In addition, Mr Adler and I share household chores, and childcare too, and always have, so what? Kids still need a mom and a dad, whenever possible, and I applaud the desire of increasing numbers of well educated young women to stay at home with their kids when they are little. The world of work, and of careers, is becoming so much more flexible that this is going to be more and more possible in the future. Good!
Well, the point I was trying to make is to read what Hirshman actually says, not what people say she says. The two aren't the same at all.
Maybe you're right, maybe she's said some intemperate things. I just didn't see the things she said as intemperate.
http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=10659
This is absolutely WRONG so please don't bother "reminding" me of it. I don't know where people get this silly canard!
I am not RC, but it is a matter of incontrovertible fact that Hitler left the Catholic church as a very young man, never to return in any fashion. He was absolutely athiestic in his personal beliefs. As a matter of fact, the Nazis made a stab at resurrecting the old, German pagan gods though I don't believe they had much success with it. Like all good totalitarians, they regarded the Church as an enemy because its influence on people competed with the influence of the state.
OK, but how long would you say the kids are "little"? When the kids go to school, staying home is pretty much makework, not necessary for their wellbeing or anybody else's.
I take my hat off to my own parents and my sister, both of whom showed me that the parents can juggle their schedules so that one or the other is always home. From time to time the grandparents have pinch-hit.
In point of fact, my husband's schedule has always had more flextime built in than mine. I know there are people who are so well off financially that juggling priorities is never even an issue.
But I agree with Hirschman, if the way that the family resolves the need to juggle is to say, "the wife and mother always sacrifices," that's not the way I want to live.
I read the entire article that you linked to. You say you think she may be intemperate. I think she is an angry, bitter, arrogant bitch.
I have been a stay at home mom and I have worked as a systems analyst for two of the "Big Three," and contrary to the claims put forth by Ms. Hirshman, I found more happiness and satisfaction raising my children than in advancing my professional career.
People who make money money money money the most important thing in their lives are usually cranky and miserable because they can never have enough.
I love my children, too, but I also love my job. I don't see it as an "either or" proposition.
According to this feminist, women waste their time and talents on raising children.
Some of the women she interviewed confirmed her worst fears: they liked being mothers.
The fertily rates among her cohort suggests that she is worrying over something that does not exist. She should be a happy camper.
I am suspect that Miss Hirshman fancy herself being intelligent.
I agree with mockingbyrd. It's all about Natural Law.
Look how different Christian churches are wavering right now and accepting things that would've been considered "sinful" years ago.
I called myself an "atheist" for years, but I couldn't relate to most other atheists who were left-leaning and subscribed to "amoralism". Eventually, my family became involved in a Christian group.
Well, whadaya know, as it turned out, those "Christians" were more atheistic than I ever was. Their beliefs had no substance at all. After two years, I finally left when they accused me of "gay bashing" because I said I didn't want my children taught to accept same-sex "marriage". (Then they made it into a personal attack as I was leaving).
So, maybe the more important question today isn't "Are you a Christian?" but "Do you believe in Natural Law?"
My first reaction was: "Casting pearls before swine."
I can't imagine the moonbats actually making it all the way through one of her columns without their heads detonating.
I'm a stay at home mom, and heard Ms. Hirshman on the radio with Michael Medved over the weekend. We were returning from a weekend trip in the car so she had my full attention with not much else to occupy my time. (My #1 son was snoozing)
You commented that Ms. Hirshman's getting a bum rap. I have to disagree.
Basically, she stated that an educated woman is wasting her time caring for her child and is brain-washed by "traditonal" society. She stated that so called male-dominated society had created these socio-norms that compelled women to stay at home. I have to differ on that point.
I was a rising star televsion producer when I became pregnant with our son. The series I produced (and, ahem, created) ran for five years on a well-known national cable network.
By contract, I had to fulfill my obligations with the network. My son was two-years-old when I finally was able to hang it up. I hated every minute he was in daycare.
If it's a case of economics, ie. pay the mortgage or starve, I understand.
For us, once our son was born, our life view completely changed. I banked my paychecks that enabled us to get out of Minneapolis and thankfully we're in a much better situation today.
Ms. Hirshman asked why a woman would want to make the choice to stay at home with a child. Did that quesion even need to be asked?
I'm proud to be a mother and a wife.
Hitler did not consider himself Catholic, he was immersed in the occult and satanism.
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