• more about #oncethecamerasstop
    Sputnik_Sweetheart: This post and the one about the multiple proposals has got me thinking. On a very practical, logical, and cognitive level, I know that not getting ma... more »
    Slumdog_Mamabear: This is why I cling so tightly to the other Moms in my life who value experiencing their children more than documenting them or dressing them up. Mom... more »
    amowls: I want a kid, but I want to skip the whole pregnancy thing. more »
    Flackette Goes Retro: I'm just hear to say that I met Katha Pollitt earlier this year, and she was faaabulously funny and smart. She signed her new book (Learning to Drive)... more »
    Everything MidnightBikeRide does is a balloon.: I blame the pro-lifers. Just have the kids, to hell with keeping them healthy and educated. She's a one-woman metaphor for the dangers of the cultural... more »
    littlemisslondon: I realized I was "ready" to have a kid (haha, who's ever actually ready?) when I realised that I didn't just want a baby. I want to raise a person, an... more »
    msAnthrope: i'm wondering how this is going to play out 10-15+ years from now. when her babies aren't babies anymore. for some reason i don't have a good feeling ... more »
    rednrowdy: Suleman seems to have wanted to have kids more than she really wanted to parent them. there are so many men and women who fall for this - you're not a... more »
    tonightineed is actually Mrs. Ziegler-Spock: I'll never forget the time it struck me that getting married was simply co-existing under a legal contract. (don't get me wrong, I want my day in my w... more »
    southernbelle: I also noticed this with pre-Valentine's Day jewelry commercials. Women acted like getting a ring was the single best thing that could ever happen. I ... more »
    starfishtat is knocked up with baby boyfishtat: I am 8 weeks pregnant and just this week started having those "oh, shit, my life is going to be changed forever" panics. This was a massively planned... more »
    Newsgirl: I have a friend who is more concerned with "being married," like it's a title or something, than anything else in her life. Work, school, anything. Sh... more »
    nora charles: I think this is pretty universal, though. I very, very rarely see anyone questioning whether or not their personality is a good fit for raising childr... more »
    rocknrollunicorn: Though personally, I think that for this woman, it probably goes farther than that. There's some obsession with pregnancy and a form of collecting chi... more »
    rocknrollunicorn: Randomly, I recently caught the end of "The Story of Us." I saw it years ago and can't remember what I thought of it, really, but the concept is intri... more »
    TakeADeepBreath: I dont understand what didnt register with her with the first 6 kids she had to make her realize that parenting is hard work? Its not like she was som... more »
    Mkp-hearts-NYC: I think this is true of all fetishes..it's all about achieving an experience without lasting consequences. Unfortunately with child-having you can't j... more »
    morninggloria: Also kind of like how alcohol commercials never show the hangover. more »
    pandorasmittens: We've seen this so many times. Many people have children and/or get married because they want to receive love. When the reality that one must also giv... more »
    morninggloria: Kind of like how waiting for Christmas is much more fun than cleaning up on the day after Christmas. more »
  • #oncethecamerasstop

    Fetishizing Traditional Roles Means Ignoring Their Realities

    The Nation's Katha Pollitt is the latest person to weigh in on Nadya Suleman and her octuplets. In a piece in the Guardian, Pollitt makes an offhand remark that really made me think. More »