TLC viewers channel their inner Santorum

"Unless you're about to starve there is no reason for you to be at work. If you didn't want to raise your children, you should not have had them. It's child abandonment."

[TLC message board commenter]

TLC has really irked the "traditional" family set because the premise to their newest show is letting Stay At Home Mothers (SAHMs) give their dream job a try without making a commitment to going back to the work force. The reaction? Mass histrionics on the TLC message board, especially since the first mother whose episode aired apparently had the talent to be offered a full time job as a fashion designer and, her family supported the idea. Many SAHMs lambasted any mother who would willingly engage in working outside her home as "selfish"

Adrian's wish to fill a missing creative void raised even more hackles: "Could any more feminist crap be shoved down our throats? The idea that you need a career to be complete? How about feeling complete by parenting your kids the right way?"

This argument is just as pitiful as the argument that a woman must have a family to be complete and the comments are as offensive as those from feminists who deride SAHMs who decide that they are more than adequately stimulated and fulfilled making their family their full-time job.

The quality of maternal parenting is not directly related to whether a woman stays at home or has a career outside of her home. Despite the insistence of a guy obsessed with everyone else's sex life, the act of staying at home does not, by default, make one a better woman or a superb mother, and careers outside of the home do not mean a woman is not parenting their kids the "right way".


Tags: parenting feminism family traditional family conservatism

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