Jezebel: Mommy Wars

Son-Preferring Mommy Blogger Shitstorm Gets Worse

Sadie Stein — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 12:18:00 EDT

Oh, dear. Yesterday, a mom wrote that she prefers her son to her daughter. People expressed criticism. She wrote another piece explaining the first piece. And things only degenerated from there. More »

Pregnant Women May Soon Get Prime Parking

Erin Gloria Ryan — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 17:30:00 EST

A new bill would allow women experiencing a difficult pregnancy to park anywhere in New York City for free- even No Parking zones. I'm sure this will make some who choose not to bear children suddenly become pregnant... with rage. More »

We Get It, You Hate Your Kids

Sadie Stein — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 13:42:00 EST

Writes someone on the Daily Fail, "I know it's taboo, but sometimes I hate my own son." Really? Taboo? It seems like nowadays you can't open a magazine without someone smugly declaring what a letdown parenthood is. More »

How To Start A Mommyblogger Fight

Sadie Stein — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 18:20:00 EST

As soon as I saw the headline "In Our House, There's No Santa Claus" my heart sank with the knowledge of an impending conflagration. Santa is a highly charged issue! More »

The New Mommy Argument: "You Do Not Have A Right To Child Free Spaces"

Sadie Stein — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:49:00 EDT

In what I would venture is a deliberately inflammatory firebomb, one mom, "Maia," writes on Feministe: "i thought that maybe some feminists could use a refresher course, a reminder, that kids are people. shorter, cuter, more honest people." Go on! More »

Sixty-Six Year Old Mom Has Triplets, Enrages Critics

Anna North — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 09:30:00 EDT

Today this morning featured Bhateri Devi, a 66-year-old woman from Hisar, India who just became a first-time mom. Cue the judgment! More »

The Birth Mother Stigma

Anna North — Fri, 21 May 2010 14:00:00 EDT

Newsweek's Raina Kelley poses an interesting question: what if Bristol Palin had decided to give her baby up for adoption? The fact that this might have severely hampered her mother's campaign reveals how we still stigmatize birth mothers. More »

Anna Wintour's Daughter Hung Up On Her, And Other Power-Mom "Blind Items"

Irin Carmon — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 13:40:00 EDT

One magazine editor "is universally regarded as terrifying, both by those who have worked for her and those who haven't." Another, "pretty much universally regarded as a world-class slave driver." Is Real Simple editor-in-chief Kristin van Ogtrop baiting us? More »

The Mommy Wars: "Quite Simply I Hate Your Baby."

Sadie Stein — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:00:00 EST

In what she might herself term a "shark-bait" piece in Salon, Lynn Harris asks: why does everyone hate mommies? More »

The "Wicked Stepmother": Just Another Way Of Keeping Women Down?

Jenna Sauers — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:20:00 EST

The stereotype of the evil, powerful stepmother is just a caricature. But is it possible that we invented this archetype even though stepmothers are arguably the most vulnerable and disempowered members of any blended family? Psychologist Wednesday Martin thinks so. More »

British Researchers: Kids Healthier When Moms Don't Work

Anna North — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 09:30:00 EDT

A study by Britain's Institute of Child Health reports that kids of working mothers are more likely to eat unhealthy snacks and watch a lot of TV. Cue the Guilt Police! More »

Will The Mommy Wars Make For Drama?

Sadie Stein — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:00:00 EDT

Amy Sohn's new novel Prospect Park West is set for big things - even a possible TV show. Think, "Momosphere in the City," complete with an SJP producer's credit. And public breastfeeding: More »

Thirtysomething: When The Mommy Wars Wore Shoulder Pads

Doree Shafrir — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:00:00 EDT

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In a new column, Doree Shafrir reflects on life in her thirties. In this installment, she visits a certain precious 80s TV drama and finds that nothing much has changed when it comes to women, work and the mommy wars. More »

What's The Deal With Feminists And Babies?

Anna North — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:00:00 EDT

Lots of people are piping up to defend Katie Roiphe's claim that feminism has ignored a mother's love for her child. Her piece isn't some antifeminist screed — but it's a pretty good example of why we have "mommy wars." More »

Rabbis Have Spoken: Single Moms Officially Not Kosher

Sadie Stein — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:20:00 EDT

Rabbi Menachem Burstein, head of the Puah Institute, a Jewish fertility organization, has declared that "there is not one rabbinical religious authority in the world allowing a single woman to give birth." (God apparently doesn't count.) Why? More »

Mother, May I

Anna Holmes — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 13:30:00 EDT

Dumb headline of the day: "Ten Comebacks From Motherhood." [Independent] More »

Assholes Without Kids Challenge Assholes With Kids

Sadie Stein — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:00:00 EDT

A Maclean's article boasts the tagline, "They can hurt your career, your marriage, your social life, your bank book. Why bother?" I'm getting really sick of this infantile "anti-kids" movement. It makes anyone who doesn't want children look bad! More »

Pregnant Missbehave Editor Threatened By Artist, Alleged Advertiser

Tracie Egan Morrissey — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:20:00 EDT

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(Updated) Two weeks ago, we posted about the demise of Missbehave and the shitstorm that swirled around founding editor Samantha Moeller's choice to be a stay at home mom. It's gotten worse. More »

The Mommy Wars Hit Missbehave Magazine

Sadie Stein — Thu, 21 May 2009 15:30:00 EDT

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Yup, Missbehave magazine is over. Why? Because its founding editor, is leaving to be "I can't believe I'm about to say this…a s-s-s-tay at home m-m-m-om or a housewife or whatever you call it," and forcing some readers to confront how much they actually believe in choosing your choices. More »

British Documentary Says Working Moms "Don't Understand What They've Lost"

Anna North — Mon, 18 May 2009 16:40:00 EDT

An article in the Times of London takes as its questionable premise the idea that working mothers' lives suck so much that they all want their daughters to marry rich men. More »

Once Upon A Potty

Sadie Stein — Tue, 05 May 2009 18:00:00 EDT

Wait, you can't just plop a newborn on a toilet and save yourself a lot of diaper-changing? No, says the momosphere! More »

Mom Gets De-Programmed From The Cult Of Pregnancy

Sadie Stein — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:20:00 EDT

A British writer discovers that being pregnant in the United States - particularly New York - sucks. More »

Stay-At-Home Motherhood Will Make You Pine For Corporate Jargon, Crap Pay

Moe — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:30:00 EDT

Today's Wall Street Journal features a profile of something called mommy SWAT teams — teams of highly-skilled stay-at-home moms (Smart Women with Available Time) so stir-crazy and intellectually starved they hire themselves on the cheap to handle "crash projects" for companies. Don't read the story; it's so packed with jargon that my stay-at-home brain had troubles following it! (The genesis of the SWAT came about when a business school, seeking professionals to "role play challenging management scenarios" for a "simulation training" component of "Leadership "Class, discovered they could just use plain old housewives attained by "tapping into neighborhood networks", which I think means the same thing as "Everything I coughed up $150,000 for an MBA to learn I could have just found out from my mom, but you knew that anyway.") So anyway, let's cut to the chase: I can sympathize with the restlessness of stay-at-home moms, but isn't there something sad about this? More »