Last updated on May 10th, 2023 at 01:39 pm<\/p>\n
In the UN world, Mother\u2019s Day has been controversial for a couple of decades, with the radical compliance committee of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), back in the early 2000s, telling the country of Belarus to get rid of Mother\u2019s Day because it perpetuated \u201cnegative stereotypes\u201d and Armenia to combat the stereotype of \u201cwomen in the noble role of mother.\u201d But the same anti-motherhood feminist nonsense has gone mainstream, particularly in the corporate world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps, like me, you\u2019ve received emails and notifications prompting you to \u201copt out of #Mothersday\u201d communications from your favorite retailer. Why? Because of the corporations\u2019 fear for women\u2019s mental health and women being \u201ctriggered\u201d when confronted with the specter of celebrating motherhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Certainly, there is a need for sensitivity for women who yearn to be mothers but have experienced fertility challenges or never been married, or to those who have lost their mother. I have those circumstances in my own family, including having lost my mother at a relatively young age. While I often shed tears of gratitude and sorrow on Mother\u2019s Day, I appreciate the opportunity to pause and honor mothers \u2013 mine and others. Motherhood is something that deserves to be celebrated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the anti-mother and anti-family forces are running with this effort to diminish and attack the notion of motherhood \u2013 issuing \u201ctrigger warnings\u201d and treating motherhood like a cultural plague that must be guarded against. One can\u2019t help but note these same retailers don\u2019t send out \u201ctrigger warnings\u201d regarding other holidays or commemorative events \u2013 or commemorative months!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Below is the story of a young woman who came to understand her role as a woman and mother and had the courage to stand up and speak about mothers at the feminist confab – the UN\u2019s Commission on the Status of Women. Alexis reminds us that a woman\u2019s greatest happiness \u2013 and the potential for influencing and changing the world \u2013 lies in marriage, motherhood, and family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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A speech by Alex Goodman Speaking the Truth about Motherhood to Radical Feminists at the UN<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had a childhood that may be familiar to some of you\u2026 and foreign to others. I was born and raised in a very rural community in the Midwest of the United States. My father was a turkey farmer, and my mother a stay-at-home mom. Together they created a family of eight children, and I am number seven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Watching my four older sisters grow up and start families at a young age made me realize I was very different from them. When asked what they wanted their ideal husband to be like, they would describe him in detail. When asked what they wanted to be when they grew up, they said simply, \u201ca mom\u201d with several children. It never seemed to be a question for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But it was a question for me. As a child, I never remember thinking about marriage and family, and although I loved my family, I never considered having one of my own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Technology, social media, the entertainment industry, began to shape a conviction in me to never have a marriage or family. My family\u2019s insistence on these things only solidified my conviction. I wanted to stay single and become a lawyer or writer. I was angry and didn\u2019t want to just \u201cthrow away my life\u201d as I saw it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The anti-family rhetoric in today\u2019s mainstream media has become a social contagion. The rest of the world validated me and the message was clear: we are past the time where only men get to live out their dreams while women live out a jail sentence in the home. In an effort to solidify my convictions, I wrote a letter to myself:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dear Alexis,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I need you to promise that you will never get married. You would be unhappy, unable to fulfill your dreams, stuck inside a house all day, unappreciated, having to do things you have NEVER wanted to do, and be depressed. Do NOT do it. By signing this you are taking the promise to not get married. If you so choose to break this, you will accept your lot in life as a failure and forever be designated to cleaning up other people\u2019s messes. What an honor. (That\u2019s sarcasm). I will see you as a failure and be embarrassed of you. By signing below you agree to the terms and will NOT get married.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alexis Goodman, February 27, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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It felt like the whole world was in the 21st century and my family was stuck in the 1800\u2019s. They eventually picked up on my thinly veiled annoyance with their \u201cantiquated\u201d ideas and called me the radical feminist of the family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some of you might feel this way and I can tell you I completely understand. But I can also tell you that I have changed because of two reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First, I remember one day my father returning home from a long day working in the turkey barns. He walked through our back door and stood in the living room, pausing before heading to the bathroom to take a much-needed shower. His hair, face, arms, hands, and clothes were coated in dirt. A pungent odor emanated from him; the ripe smell of 30,000 turkeys. But even stronger than that stench was the exhaustion radiating from him as he leaned against the wall in an involuntary show of fatigue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I watched him, I was shocked with myself. My father had been in my life from the very start and yet I never once realized he was a walking contradiction to the anger that was within me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There, standing in front of me, was a man not living out his dream career. My father never wanted to be a turkey farmer. But when money got scarce, he did what he had to do: provide for his family. Which in the end, made him truly happy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then I looked over at my mother to see her peacefully making dinner. I can\u2019t tell you how many times she had told us that all she had ever wanted in life was to be a mom. Suddenly I had new eyes to see. My mom was living out her dream while my dad worked a foul job. And finally, my second reason came from getting older. When I moved out, I came to realize this world isn\u2019t all about me. Even my own life isn\u2019t all about me. It\u2019s about the relationships I form, the way I treat people, and the family I will create. Job titles will come and go, but family is forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I currently work with United Families International as a writer. I am a part of a Professional Society at my college, and I am creating a club for our community to raise awareness for anti-human trafficking efforts. But most important is the family I have started. I am now married to a wonderful man who supports me in everything and encourages me to attend law school. The anger I once held so tightly within is gone and I feel peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before, I was looking down on my hard-working mother and father, and all my siblings. I felt they were brainwashed. But they weren\u2019t the ones brainwashed; I was. I was conditioned by the mainstream media to think motherhood is man\u2019s attempt to enslave women. Social and entertainment media can have a significant impact on children, as they constantly see a wide range of content. Studies have found that children\u2019s\u2014especially teens’\u2014 attitudes are shaped by technology regarding social issues, politics, and personal values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But fortunately for me, I was able to realize family is the height of achievement. If it hadn\u2019t been for the healthy family I had growing up, I might have been unable to let go of that anger. You are some of the first to know that my husband and I recently found out I am pregnant. And I can tell you with complete sincerity I have never, in all my accomplishments, felt so tied to a purpose. We are beyond excited and can\u2019t wait to build our family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, in conclusion, I stand as a testament that women can do both. I think that is the greatest empowerment you can give a woman, to tell her she is so strong and courageous as to build a loving family while also pursuing her dreams. Let\u2019s end the wars on motherhood and family regarding whose better and just help each other raise the next generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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