Womanhood
[Nancy Rome, a filmmaker who is working on both a documentary and a book on childlessness, empathizes with the ostracized. "We're outcasts of society, of our sex, of our gender," she says. "We are doing something that is viewed as un-American, unfeminine, un-Christian, uneverything."]
I tripped over this article, "Baby Blues", (http://www.harpersbazaar.com/baby-blues-0408) while browsing msn this morning. I think it struck a chord because of a particular incident that happened this week, in which I was sitting in a coffee shop with my (female) cousins when an elderly couple sat down at the table next to ours. We're all young (18-23), and the wife looked over at my cousins to ask: "What, no kids yet, hons?".
One of my cousins is a joker, so she replied: "I don't think I'm ever having kids." (She actually--very adamantly--wants to have two someday, but she hates being pressured about it because her focus is on getting a good career first).
The couple just sat there for a second, dazed. Then her husband retorted with this stupid, little gem, accompanied with what I can only describe as an unabashed, dirty look: "The hell---you ain't got a womb or something?"
Needless to say, we just walked out of there.
Honestly, I don't care whether a woman wants to have children or not---it's not something you can judge a lady by---but I've been seeing it a lot lately. It's something my cousins get ribbed about all the time, almost as though it's the final test for womanhood. What about you, my dear audience?
I tripped over this article, "Baby Blues", (http://www.harpersbazaar.com/baby-blues-0408) while browsing msn this morning. I think it struck a chord because of a particular incident that happened this week, in which I was sitting in a coffee shop with my (female) cousins when an elderly couple sat down at the table next to ours. We're all young (18-23), and the wife looked over at my cousins to ask: "What, no kids yet, hons?".
One of my cousins is a joker, so she replied: "I don't think I'm ever having kids." (She actually--very adamantly--wants to have two someday, but she hates being pressured about it because her focus is on getting a good career first).
The couple just sat there for a second, dazed. Then her husband retorted with this stupid, little gem, accompanied with what I can only describe as an unabashed, dirty look: "The hell---you ain't got a womb or something?"
Needless to say, we just walked out of there.
Honestly, I don't care whether a woman wants to have children or not---it's not something you can judge a lady by---but I've been seeing it a lot lately. It's something my cousins get ribbed about all the time, almost as though it's the final test for womanhood. What about you, my dear audience?