This is a reply I posted over at radioopensource.org - a follow up to a podcast I caught last week on Feminism, and the “opt out” revolution. If you aren’t listen to podcasts yet, this is a great place to start.

One of the great things about podcasting is I can catch up on shows I missed; one of the bad things is that I yell at my radio with no hope of calling in. If Larry Summers even floated half the ideas of your guest, Linda Hirshman, he would be lynched in Harvard Square. That I somehow need to pass a reproduction litmus test to further my education is stunningly arrogant and antiquated. The larger issue isn’t gender roles, but the nature of work and Ms. Hirshman’s perception of a post-cold war economy where one stayed in ones job for their life time is no longer realistic.

Yes, work can be fulfilling - even if that work is raising your own child. [Once you start paying other people to do it, you can no longer deny that it is actually work, no matter how much Ms. Hirshman disparages it]. The modern worker needs to be flexible - not just for after school pick ups, but because of the nature of the new economy - which means that a lawyer can work part time and meet both their needs and the law firm’s, a professor can pick up a class or two, a radiologist can work at home reading x-rays over their computer four days a week; that gender is beginning to play a smaller role in this is blatantly ignored by Ms. Hirshman.

My husband and I are taking turns staying home to raise our children, and the only sacrifice is monetary - we are opting out of the consumer culture - which seems far more damaging to our national consciousness than pledging allegiance to a dying corporate model.