There are people in feminism who refer to mothers as “breeders.” This angers me. What angers me the most about this is complete lack of respect for child-bearing and child-rearing. Bringing life into the world and taking care of it is one of the most important things that a person can do. And without people doing that, you – and I - would not be alive.
One of the saddest statements I’ve heard was a feminist graduate student referring to her body as useless. Useless? How can it be useless? The female body can produce new life. What can be more useful than that?
In some circles, family is a dirty word. The problem here is confusion between a value and the misuses of the value. Wrong things that get done in families discredit family itself, leading many honest people to become anti-family. The problem is not with family; it is with wrong things that get done in families. Family can, and should, be done better.
The women who don’t want to have children should be left free to their choices. But so should women who do want to have children. I anticipate that most women will want to have children. Which means that the correct stance for feminists to make is not to discourage them from having children, but to support them as parents and help them face whatever struggles they face as part of family life.
I would therefore like to see feminists encouraging their followers to have children. That way the feminists get to pass on their values to more people and make them matter in the lives of more people. Family and feminism should not be things hostile to one another. It should be possible for feminism-influenced people to have families and raise their children with feminist values.
So no, the female body is far from useless. Here is something that women can do that men can’t. Affirming it is profoundly empowering to the women. Feminists should not be referring to these women as “breeders.” They should be supporting them as mothers and helping them to face whatever they face in that role. And then feminists will actually be speaking for women and doing what they need to do for women’s well-being to be achieved.