Last week on the blog, I covered liberalism’s serious kids conundrum and the destructive, women-harming effects of radical feminism. These two problematic quirks at the heart of social progressivism combine to produce yet another of the left’s problematic precepts: contempt for motherhood.Of course, very few left-leaning Americans are actually opposed to motherhood outright or in practice. But leftism, when carried to its logical conclusion, presents a troubling verdict regarding motherhood. And while many on the left would no doubt disavow, others have proudly embraced their ideology’s inevitable condemnation of motherhood. Those in the latter group have assayed to foist their ideas on the rest of society, even going so far as to crusade against Mother’s Day. One feminist writer, for example, called Mother’s Day the “Official Patronising of Women Day.”“Mother’s Day, in its present form,” she argued, “is merely… another capitalist-patriarchal tool to beat women over the head with. It remains nothing more than a depressing attempt at brain-washing women into believing that ‘their’ work is valued.” SEE ALSO: Every American needs to hear this feminist’s advice Another feminist author, Carol P. Christ, the so-called foremother of the Goddess movement, wrote about being “uneasy about celebrating Mother’s Day” due to our living in what she described as a patriarchal and matricidal culture. Where did she get the idea that we live in a matricidal society? From the Christian West’s belief in Jesus’ teaching about being born again. Apparently, spiritual “rebirth” is tantamount to the murder of one’s mother.“[O]ur culture is “matricidal” because it is based on the assumption that life in the body in this world ‘just isn’t good enough,'” she asserted.As evidenced by these quotes, feminists hate Mother’s Day because they believe that motherhood itself is a patriarchal construct. That this is what feminists believe is more than just hearsay; they themselves have made this argument many times.In her paper “We Need to Talk about Patriarchal Motherhood,” Professor Andrea O’Reilly contends that women are essentially forced to desire motherhood. She conveys the purported “discontents of patriarchal motherhood… [and] the cause of and reason for this maternal discontent: namely, the essentialization, naturalization, and idealization of patriarchal motherhood.” She goes so far as to argue that the notion that women “love their children unconditionally” is “fictive.” SEE ALSO: Secular liberalism has a serious kids problem Caitlin Heavner, an applied intersectionality writer, agrees.“Patriarchy controls and runs our society,” she writes. “Men sit up in their ivory towers and dictate the way we as a society should treat women. Men write bills to limit women’s reproductive rights even though they are not the ones who have to carry a child in their stomach for 9 months. The idea of even getting pregnant is rooted in sexist male thinking because men decided that motherhood was a woman’s rite of passage.”The feminist case against motherhood is predicated on the argument that men are forcing women into marriage. Notably, they fail to name a single modern-day example. They conveniently ignore the difference between extolling the beauty (and necessity) of marriage and motherhood and forcing someone into either. I have never heard anyone advocate for the latter. If a woman does not want to be a wife, that is her prerogative. Most conservative, pro-marriage, anti-abortion apologists would readily agree. It seems the feminist case is built on a straw man. (Of course, the argument that pro-life laws strong-arm women into carrying pregnancies is absolute garbage. Reproduction is never forced by “anti-choice” lawmakers. It is a natural process of nature. In that sense, it is nature that “forces” women to be pregnant, although in most cases, they can avoid it.) SEE ALSO: Alarming CDC data indicates family is more vital than ever Feminists have actually swung to the extreme of shaming women who want to have kids. Childbearing is one of the many beautiful differences between men and women. Therefore, it makes perfect sense that many women would genuinely desire to have kids. But the feminists bash and scold these women. They say that they have caved to the patriarchy. They say that they only think they want kids because domineering men gaslighted them into believing so. The effect—whether intended or not—is a new kind of shame for women; not the shame of not having kids but the shame of having them.Women and mothers in particular, should be offended by such demeaning treatment. Motherhood is a beautiful treasure worth celebrating. Mothers deserve to be recognized and honored, not told that they are participating in a “capitalist-patriarchal,” “patronising” holiday. Motherhood is indeed in crisis, which means now more than ever, those maternal heroes in our midst are due a standing ovation. The feminists have destroyed enough already. Don’t let them have Mother’s Day too.Jakob Fay is a staff writer for the Convention of States Project, a project of Citizens for Self-Governance.
