Feminists Don't Get It: Motherhood's a Drug

Some find the term 'gross,' but Wilson Diehl needed to hear it

(NEWSER) - Since becoming a mom, Wilson Diehl had “internalized the wildly sexist notion that moms are unsexy,” she writes on Salon . “Maybe I could be a hot 35-year-old married lady, but a hot 35-year-old married mom?” But on a ladies’ weekend in Chicago with friends, Diehl found herself “dressed in not-too-badly-baby-stained clothing, drinking hot toddies and engaging in an ever-so-slight flirtation” with two college guys. When her friends whipped out the baby photos, Diehl thought it might be time to leave the guys alone so they could hit on younger women—but when she suggested doing so, one was quick to protest, “No way, man! You all are MILFs!” More»

Remember, she's a comedian—not a professional feminist

(NEWSER) - As the laws of gravity have taught us, the Tina Fey backlash was inevitable—Rebecca Traister actually expected it when the comedian started “appearing on every magazine cover shy of Horse & Hound”—and it’s now, quite suddenly, here in full force. But her pack of haters isn't composed of cynics: It's made of women. Feminists are angry, particularly in light of her recent “Brownie Husband” sketch on SNL, that Fey isn’t a good enough feminist icon…but they’re forgetting that she never purported to be anything of the sort. More»

Attentive parenting new form of oppression, says feminist Badinter

(NEWSER) - What with all the breastfeeding, diaper washing, and not smoking while pregnant, mothers have become enslaved to their “tyrant” babies. That’s the opinion of French feminist philosopher Elisabeth Badinter, who sees women giving up their lives in the service of their young ones—and risking women's liberation by becoming oppressed by their own children. “We live 80 or 85 years,” she tells the Times , “and children take up 20 to 25 years of that. Staking your whole life on 20 years is a bad bet.” More»

Wearing plunging necklines doesn't make you any less of a feminist

(NEWSER) - After a British tabloid snarked that a TV newscaster wore too much makeup—and wondered if she could still be considered a feminist—Wendy Atterberry felt compelled to answer. Yes, she absolutely can—even while wearing false eyelashes, she writes on The Frisky . More things feminists are allowed to do:

• Flirt shamelessly
• Like porn

Study finds parents 'not being able to really care' for newborns

(NEWSER) - About 1 in 50 US children under age 1 is a victim of nonfatal neglect or abuse—particularly among the uninsured, a survey finds. One-third of the 91,000 victims were a week or younger when the maltreatment occurred. "It's not primarily kids being hit, but parents … not being able to really take care for their kids," one expert said. More»