Letters to the Editor

The happy hypocrite I never cared that Caitlin Flanagan calls herself an at-home mother, even though she's a magazine writer with a staff of helpers. But now she's using her battle with cancer to denounce feminism and extol her traditional virtues -- and I've had it. By Joan Walsh [2006-04-12]

• Bravo!

  Bravo to Joan Walsh for nailing Caitlin Flanagan's hypocrisy on its braindead little head. Unlike Flanagan, I'm a full-time mother who also runs a business without a nanny or a housekeeper. Since, unlike Flanagan, I know just how hard it is to really take care of your child full time, I've never had much patience with her sanctimonious guilt-tripping. She's not a full-time mother, she's a lady of leisure who dabbles in writing. She really has nothing to say about real full-time mothering nor mothers who work outside the home.

  As someone whose working mother (and grandmother) died of breast cancer, Flanagan's exploitation of her own illness to score cheap shots is grotesque. Yeah, my mother worked and was (gasp!)a feminist. She also took care of her mother when she was dying. My family did the same and we were heartbroken when she died. Is Flanagan's understanding of love really so limited that she thinks only women who fit safe stereotypes are loved and cared for? With such a benighted view of humanited, no wonder she's depressed.

  -- Uriel.
  [Read Uriel.'s other letters]
  Permalink Flag Tuesday, April 11, 2006 08:48 PM
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