As a stay-at-home mom, I feel like I can speak for all other stay-at-home moms.
Just like I can speak for all other white, middle class, straight, married, 30-something, pudgy women of the world, I speak for stay-at-home moms.
Stay-at-home moms are a lazy group of needy bitches who feel entitled to put the title of “Household CEO” on our useless lives.
AMIRITE? *high 5*
Or do you have a problem with what I and 30% of other American mothers chose to do with our lives?
This looks like a good opportunity to start…THE MOMMY WARS!
Let’s put two pretty, highly politically-powered blond moms in a Media Ring of FIRE and let them duke it out. Where’s the mud and bikinis to throw on those bitches?!
Hilary Rosen said Ann Romney had “never worked a day in her life.”
Of course Ann Romney worked. She worked hard at not feeling guilty for having a stockpile of cash in her Bahamian bank account. She worked hard at sending her 5 boys to camp so she could have the days to herself to lunch with her lady friends. She worked hard at hiring nannies to watch her boys in the evening so she could attend a masked ball where an orgy probably broke out.
Or, she was and is just like any other stay-at-home mom and feels guilty for having the luxury of not putting her kids into daycare. Or, she was and is just like any other stay-at-home mom and chose what was best for herself and her family. Or, she was and is just like any other stay-at-home mom and, in this day and age, has to defend her choice to the country to not have an income.
Much like I speak for all stay-at-home moms, democratic strategist, Hliary Rosen, speaks for all Democrats when she misspoke and said Republican Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s wife, Ann, had “never worked a day in her life” and therefore didn’t earn the right to be an economic adviser.
Of course she didn’t misspeak as 90% of rational listeners realize. Of course she was putting down every stay-at-home mom who ever chose to life the life of leisure. Of course there’s no war on women in the news culture where women are pitted against one another, forced to defend their beliefs in a public forum. Of course because Hilary Rosen is gay she doesn’t understand the plight of the straight woman because she didn’t birth her own children.
Lesbian Dem Hilary Rosen tells Ann Romney she never worked a day in her life. Unlike Rosen, who had to adopt kids, Ann raised 5 of her own.
— Catholic League (@CatholicLeague) April 12, 2012
There’s no way a woman, especially a lesbo, who didn’t birth her own children could understand the work-life balance of straight women who pushed their babies through their love canals. Right?
I mean, what makes you a good mother? It’s clearly the ability to procreate with your legal husband through no intervention whatsoever then choose to forego any dream of having a career, contributing to your financial stability, and be a lazy stay-at-home mom.
I did those things, therefore I am a Good Mother. GO ME!
Except, all of this is ridiculous. It’s ridiculous to think that Hilary Rosen meant exactly those words that Ann Romney hadn’t “worked a day in her life.” In under 24 hours, the news cycle has rounded up every commentator to Speak For The Moms or Speak For The Democrats or Speak For The Republicans, taking sides on this made-up debate turning yet another soundbite into a full-on Mommy War.
Being a stay-at-home mom is not the debate. Treating women among women and women among men fairly is the debate.
Former First Lady and All-Around Butt Kicker Barbara Bush said it best:
Life is good. Women who stay home are wonderful, women who go to work are wonderful. Whatever.
image via ABC News
{ 26 comments… read them below or add one }
You rock. Thank you for saying it all. And so well, too. Clearly, you wrote this during nap time or while your personal assistant rocked the children, right?
Seriously, though, in addition to all the other 2012 goals I have, I would like for women to stop being our own worst enemies.
An Awesome post on thedoseofreality´s blog … Hearts Do Not Have Colors
My Housewifing intern wrote this for me.
An Awesome post on Angie [A Whole Lot of Nothing]´s blog … Sayonara, Bitches! The Guilt Of A Stay-At-Home Mom Who Works
This country would get a hell of a lot further if we worked to better our condition harder than we did to prove we are better than one another.
Beautifully done.
An Awesome post on Amanda´s blog … Give and Take
Prexactly.
An Awesome post on Angie [A Whole Lot of Nothing]´s blog … Sayonara, Bitches! The Guilt Of A Stay-At-Home Mom Who Works
I am a white, middle class, straight, married, 30-something, pudgy woman and I approve this message.
An Awesome post on Shannon Drury´s blog … Zoe Nicholson, continued: “We are all leaders and followers and the ones we have been looking for”
My 7yo now calls the President, “Barack Obama, And I Approve This Message.”
An Awesome post on Angie [A Whole Lot of Nothing]´s blog … Sayonara, Bitches! The Guilt Of A Stay-At-Home Mom Who Works
I am a biological mother and an adoptive mother. I am a former working mother, a former single mother, and now I am a stay-at-home mother who dabbled in being a work-at-home mother. Pretty much covers it all, doesn’t it? Let me lay it out as I see it: When I worked I missed my oldest child like crazy and felt terrible that someone else was tending to her every need. I sure loved the paycheck and independence. Weekends were precious family time. As a single mother, I put my child first and never mixed dating and socializing with my custodial time. Those were some lonely years. Now I have enough perspective to know that being home with my youngest, being a part of my community, and helping in ways that are beyond a paycheck are what is best for me and my family. I miss working. I hate feeling “useless” as society seems to view me. But, and this is a big one, I know I am doing the right thing for my family. I do not judge anyone at this point. I’ve seen it all, been there, done that. No place is perfect. Always, there is sacrifice.
Unfortunately, sacrifice and guilt lives inside of all mother’s hearts.
An Awesome post on Angie [A Whole Lot of Nothing]´s blog … Sayonara, Bitches! The Guilt Of A Stay-At-Home Mom Who Works
Very well put. And I love the Bush quote.
It will be a nice day when being a mom, in whatever form that takes, is valued in society.
Exactly.
I’ve always been a Mama Bush fan; I’m just not a fan of her husband or sons.
An Awesome post on Angie [A Whole Lot of Nothing]´s blog … Sayonara, Bitches! The Guilt Of A Stay-At-Home Mom Who Works
how lucky is it that her husband generated enough cash from sending jobs overseas and hiding profits in off shore accounts that he can cover the bills for her cancer and MS treatments? the rest of us would be at the mercy of pre exsisting loopholes and max lifetime limits(provided we survived)
hmmmm
as a stay at home mom, I’m pretty sure I still don’t live in her world……no “couple of Cadillacs” round these parts
I’m clipping coupons to cover the bills we have now
Very different world than the other 99% of us.
An Awesome post on Angie [A Whole Lot of Nothing]´s blog … Sayonara, Bitches! The Guilt Of A Stay-At-Home Mom Who Works
Love this post, mostly because it reaffirms my belief that SAHM are lazy.
In all seriousness, I have always said I don’t have what it takes to stay at home. Because that is a hard job, one I’m not sure I could do and stay sane.
Sanity is the first thing to be sacrificed.
An Awesome post on Angie [A Whole Lot of Nothing]´s blog … Sayonara, Bitches! The Guilt Of A Stay-At-Home Mom Who Works
Go, Angie!
GO ME!
An Awesome post on Angie [A Whole Lot of Nothing]´s blog … Sayonara, Bitches! The Guilt Of A Stay-At-Home Mom Who Works
Loving this post and loving these comments. We all make choices and live with them – the perks and the sacrifices. Just make the best of what you have and see the joys and stop bashing each other for everyone is doing their best.
Exactamundo.
An Awesome post on Angie [A Whole Lot of Nothing]´s blog … Sayonara, Bitches! The Guilt Of A Stay-At-Home Mom Who Works
I agree that the argument here is the fair treatment among all human beings regardless of gender, religious or political affinity. You chose to be who you are right now and you should be respected like others. Have you experienced being disrespected because you belong to a minority and the considered weak group?
-Cramey
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Hasn’t anyone heard of “divide and conquer?” I swear to god these damn “mommy wars,” they kill me. I mean, of course everyone should have made MY choices because MY choices are the ONLY RIGHT CHOICE. And if all you women out there don’t make my choice? Well…um…okay. How about instead of bitching at each other (or listening to a media frenzy about how we *should* be bitching at each other) we band together and do stuff that would make life easier for all of us. How about…better schools, more child-care options, safer neighborhoods, healthier food, cleaner air. I mean, what if all the mothers out there (and hell, even women who aren’t mothers) got together and acted in common interest instead of allowing ourselves to pitted against one another on the specious grounds that one set of choices is better than the other. I can’t help but feel that somewhere–in the control room of Fox, or Karl Rove’s bunker, or the boardrooms of the Koch brothers–a group of stodgy, dark-suited, white guys are chuckling and high-fiving about the idea that once again, they’ve got women paying more attention to who said what to whom than to, you know, stuff that actually matters.
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*slow clap*
Well said.
An Awesome post on Angie [A Whole Lot of Nothing]´s blog … Sayonara, Bitches! The Guilt Of A Stay-At-Home Mom Who Works
Barbara Bush’s quote at the end is FAN. TAS. TIC. Exactly. Yes.
Thank you for writing this. You rock.
An Awesome post on Kristen´s blog … This is spam.
She’s my favorite Bush. The twins used to be when they were underage drinkers, but they got all straight and narrow.
Nothing beats the Bloggess’ response on CNN. Fantastique!!
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She’s pretty rockin.
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