With the latest (the latest as I write this, no doubt there'll be more) revelation of JD Vance's deeply weird world view--i.e., that post-menopausal women's primary function is childcare, I find myself in a bit of a quandary.
I mean, here I am, happily providing a significant amount of childcare, while at the same time deploring the view that it's my only worth.
I disagree strongly with this view. Post menopause, I wrote and saw published seven novels and taught writing classes for many years. This was pre-childcare. Now I'm retired from the writing game and enjoying seeing the world through the eyes of my granddaughter.
Then I realize that for most of my life, I've also been a stay-at-home mom and housewife--a tradwife, as some would call it. Yikes! (Except for nine years spent as a teacher. According to the Orange One, that's not a job in the private sector and makes me almost a Communist. Oh, but wait, eight of those years were in private schools . . .it's complicated, isn't it?)
There's something disturbing about a party that is so up in everyone's business--worried about restrooms and life choices and books and religion--a party that was once all about personal freedom from government.
I'm with the Harris/Walz team--Mind Your Own Damn Business.
As for the view that women belong at home, making and caring for children--there's nothing wrong with that IF IT'S YOUR CHOICE.
But I choose a world where folks like Nancy Pelosi and Kamala Harris--or Mary Oliver or Taylor Swift or Jane Goodall-- aren't defined by the number of children they birth or care for, but by what they choose to do with their lives.