Motherhood - a foreign and frightening idea for a twenty-two year old college student life myself. I can hardly take care of my own responsibilities and indulge in too many selfish weekend escapades to really, truly, sincerely care for any other human being! Just call me selfish. There are however, women who wait their whole lives to become a mother; to finally hold their own child in their arms. It can be a beautiful sight that renders images of the women who have made a difference in our lives. Its concept however, when placed into the dangerous public sphere of controversy and newswires is, in my own opinion, a psychological, social, and physical imprisonment of women everywhere.
We read about Nadya Suleman and call her selfish for being too motherly - the woman just wanted more and more babies! We hear about female soldiers becoming mothers or enlisting already as such and call them selfish as well. Why? They abandon their children to fight for their country. Or what about the argument that they abandon their duties and their country to focus on themselves and their children? Those selfish, selfish women...
On the other hand, motherhood as a concept can be extremely empowering. After all, it is the ultimate power to create a living human being and introduce them to the world. We look to our mothers for advice and learn how to be functioning individuals more often than not through the lessons given to us by them. But despite the wonders of watching your child walk for the first time or or go off to college, motherhood as a concept limits women. You can be a mother or you cannot. Or you can be both, but only within the restrictions created by workplace and societal standards. So while I look up to my own mother, I choose to remain that selfish, childless twenty-two year old woman in order to escape the imprisonment of motherhood.
No comments:
Post a Comment