Feminists? Any here?

[Irulan]

I missed where I said that no feminists ever looked down at SAHMs. In fact, I acknowledged that some, maybe many, did so.

I'll go further. As a teen, I was one of them. I don't remember ever having said anything directly personal to anyone, but I may have, and whether or not I did, I apologize.

You know where I originally learned that attitude?

From my non-feminist, traditional-sex-role dad. And the way he treated my own stay-at-home mom. From my earliest memories, her work and her role was devalued and disrespected and openly insulted. Not by feminists. By a patriarchal male. I learned that, and it wasn't until I left home and began to associate with women who respect women (a synonym for feminists) that I was able to unlearn it.

In a lot of ways this post really makes me smile... we are on opposite ends of the experience spectrum here. This really shows how we are so much products of our own experience, in addition to a larger culture.

My mom was an original 60's working mother feminist ( almost a bra burner but not quite), my dad was a weak man. I was spoon fed feminist idealism from a very early age, but the paths I took with my life soon diverged from the then typical feminist agenda. That would have been fine on it's own, but within my own peer group, I got a whole lot of crap for it.

i will leave it at that.