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]

• Who's Working and Why

  Flanagan and others like her imagine that most women working outside of the home have made their choices based solely on the notion (which they malign) of self-fulfillment. This is a specious argument because she knows very well that most women work outside their homes because they and their families need a second income to pay for their mortgages, health insurance, education expenses for their kids, and put food on the table. I suspect that what she means when she talks about women, is women like herself, those who can subcontract out the less pleasant parts of the stay at home mother/wife job to other women, to attend to the things that they find self-fulfilling, like writing. I would welcome an article that discusses how men find it difficult to come home in the evening and find the energy to nurture their wives and children in the hopes that they are putting enough in the relationship bank to draw upon it when they get cancer. What a crock.

  Nora Cain

  -- Nora Cain
  Permalink Flag Tuesday, April 11, 2006 08:26 PM
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