The Rebuttal

Ok, you can read David Brooks article here. And the great rebuttal by Jennifer Saba at ediitorandpublisher.com here. Go. Read.

Now for my two cents. Mr. Brooks is so full of shit (excuse my language). You expected these articles in the '6os and '70s, about the time women decided they weren't just sex toys, maids, and baby factories (remember Betty Freidan? The Feminine Mystique?). but now it's just insulting.

"Go have your babies, don't worry your pretty little head about (fill in the blank), us menfolk will handle that."

My mother worked. Her mother (Grandma Ben) worked. Her mother (Grandma) worked (she washed clothes for a living - Mama told me about it [it starts out "Well you have these two tubs..."], but I, being the spoiled suburban kid couldn't really fathom it). Even my dad's mother (Grandmother) worked (in fact she had worked so long at her city job in Clinton, OK, when she died, they declared a holiday in her honor - even though she'd been retired for a while).
When I was a little kid, she worked at the Black Hotel, downtown OKC (well, the building's still there - but it doesn't have the black tile facade anymore). I loved going to my mother's work, she was the PBX Operator. I always felt like a movie star when I went into the lobby to get my mom, everybody knew me, would say hi to me. The desk clerk was Maurice, a "bachelor" who owned show-quality Siamese cats. And Fran (I think) was another operator. Daddy's work, at Tinker AFB, overwhelmed me, but I was a star at my mother's.

Mama never really was into stereotypes, I had Barbies, but I also had a train and guns and holster, and I've never owned a girls bike (ick), although, she did force me to carry a purse when I started high school ("Why?!" "You just have to!"). I've already been into the point that she never should have retired - she didn't have any hobbies or interests to keep her mind active.

I didn't really have a choice to stay home. And I'm enough like my Mom to know I would go crazy, if I didn't work. Thanks to being a federal employee at the time with lots of sick leave saved up, I had a seven week paid maternity leave, and still had 100 hours left over. Jimmy was a very social baby, he loved daycare.

Basically the key is: if a woman is happier being Suzy Homemaker, that's what she ought to be, and her kids will be happy and well-adjusted. But if the mom isn't happy, the kids won't be happy. And most of us don't have the choice. So get off our backs!