Wedding-Planning Hiatus
It's hard planning a wedding while in the midst of grad school. From what I gather from watching Bridezillas (only to regain perspective, I promise), planning a wedding is time-consuming, period.
I have spent the past several months reading interesting articles and formulating in my mind beautiful posts to accompany the links. Unfortunately, I had a qualifying exam that took precedence (I passed!) . Then I spent a week at the future in-laws playing nurse to those who just had a knee replaced (he can drive now), those who were involved in kidney transplants (both are doing well), and those who got horrible colds right as their loved ones were undergoing surgery. Let me tell you, I was a Lysol-wielding, dish-washing, dinner-cooking maniac! It's hard being a housewife and then trying to assemble coherent thoughts relating to current events. It's hard just thinking. Probably something with the cleaning chemicals.
Then I came home to be a full-time bride-to-be. That's when the problems really started. As Tacitean can attest, I am currently incapable of having a conversation that does not eventually dissolve into wedding talk. This essentially renders me worthless in the blogosphere unless you want daily updates on how I updated the registries or finally picked flowers. I swore I'd never become one of "those brides," but here I am. It's really quite sad.
If I get the opportunity to tear my thoughts away from my internal debate of nonstick vs. stainless cookware, I would love to focus on something non-wedding. Sadly, I'm not sure that will happen until somewhere in the neighborhood of July 30.
That being said (and perhaps because I'm currently pondering how to manage the career and the family), I leave with you this article from Slate that presents a "case against staying home with the kids." I read it and found it interesting, but in my wedding-addled mind, I can't offer much in the way of commentary. I do still check up on the blog to see what kind of intelligent comments you all have to offer, so don't shy away from discussing! I recall thinking that the article reminded me of some common themes from recent posts regarding social isolation and birth rates, something about the loss of a strong social network denies new mothers of the support system they need after giving birth, the support system that enables them to remain in the work force without feeling guilty...
posted by Melanie @ 11:23 PM
2 Comments:
Before we get into a discussion of the Slate article, I would like to note that the women are Bridezillas are absolutely horrible people. I'm glad I'm not marrying one of them.
I urge everyone to read the Slate article Boudicca has linked above! I just read it and found it deeply fascinating.
The basic premise: women should be far more assertive in entering the workforce and they should stop thinking that it's perfectly fine to 'choose' domesticity, because this attitude harms long-term steps for gender equality. It's not an argument that pulls punches!
Hirshman's analysis seems to me to be radically feminist and possibly even Marxist - she invokes the theory of 'false consciousness' to explain women who opt out of the workforce! - but she certainly doesn't hide her true meaning from us.
For my part, I'm very wary of calls to collective action in a sphere this private, because it threatens to make every personal decision into a political one. Also, her theory is based on the idea that only the mother or the father can take care of children, which does a disservice to the older idea of extended families doing what they can. I'd like to hear what everyone else has to say.
Post a Comment
<< Home