>...the HEAD of the hospital, a doctor, who wears street-walker shirts cut down to her navel, flashing decoutelage while she counts beans. so ridiculous.<

That's one of the few things I dislike about HOUSE. It's one thing that Cuddy doesn't exercise nearly enough authority over House; another thing that she dresses so impractically. But you put the two together and you have a really unbelievable character. She's like some male writer's dream executive--really hot, gives the male lead some spirited backtalk, but comes off as ineffectual and a joke at the end. _And_ she puts up with comments from him that no adm. would tolerate.

The reason the new crop of women who stay at home get judgement is because a fair amount of them (and the media) act as if this "choice" 1) makes them "real" women--unlike those cold, bitter, career women (snort); 2) is a wonderful "normality" that they are escaping back to after years of that evil anti-family feminism. As well, the comments they get are a justified response to this society raising motherhood to a near-religion. This choice is _not_ being framed as an option by the media--it's being promoted as a return to traditional values that "normal" women should aspire to. The letter from "Annie" early in this thread is a good example of that kind of thinking. Those of us who know the realities of the situation are just nicely providing a corrective to all the stardust. :)

>Whether women want to acknowledge the truth or not, the only way to have any kind of real security in this world is to be willing and able to work.<

And women need to teach their daughters that finding out what you love to do--and spending your life doing it, even if it it's just part-time--is a win-win situation. How often do we see that wisdom promoted instead of the endless "be a little princess" template little girls get? How many women (shoot, how many people) realize that if you regard work as just an endless series of boring jobs you need to do, that's what it will become.

>Some of the women I've heard have become such babies about things - that if they aren't in love with their job every second of the day that it's not worth keeping or that if they work they might miss those "precious milestones" of their child's life.<

And too many of them are using marriage and kids as an excuse to give up on the hard work of having a life for oneself and being something other than "wife and mom." That's the saddest part of this--that they think that is automatically an easier road.

>Unless you have a few million dollars stashed away in your mattress, it is foolish to be so completely and utterly dependant on one single person for your entire financial well-being.<

And it's foolish to invest your entire identity into roles that are only a part of who you are.

>This author has done them an enormous service in reminding them that nothing in life is guarenteed. It's a shame that so many women don't take that lesson to heart.<

Some of 'em are escaping from reality in the first place, so they don't want to hear this lesson. ;)

She's one of those women who is so scared her sons will be victimized by girls "poisoned" by feminism that it's screwed up her common sense.

a job working at a college, as a fallback/addition to looking for legal-secretary work. The great thing about colleges is that they are everywhere and their jobs are fairly stable with good benefits. Most will pick up the cost of any further education you might want. As well, you'll be in the middle of an instant community (at the smaller colleges, at least) and that will make the transition easier. You definitely need to leave, though. This guy is all wrong for you. As well, if his relatives are bad-news enough to want to confront you at Wal-Mart, imagine _years_ of being subject to their opinions and attitudes.

>what am I to tell my daughter? That no matter what she does, no matter how much she achieves, not only will racists reduce her to a stereotype of an over-sexualized whore, but that the country won't care? That she can work hard and win a national stage only to be referred to as "jigaboo" and no one well do anything more than tsk-tsk?<

And _that_ is why this is so offensive. Day after day after day white folks just love to talk about black folks' failings and say that they all are dangerous gangstas or shiftless trash. The Rutgers' women's team have accomplishments many white teams would be proud of, but that's not good enough for the likes of Imus and his defenders--they still have to reduce these women to terms they can understand and deal with. No matter what black people do, folks like Imus will always find a way to make them out as less than human--and turn their insults back on us by claiming we're sensitive or are letting ourselves be represented by "agitators."