Feminists, seriously, if you want to lose the reputation that you hate women who exit the work force to raise our own children, you need to put a bit more effort into concealing that part.

And stop valuing economic viability over the effective propagation and cultivation of the next generation of humans. I’m a fan of capitalism. I’ve devoted a lot of work to advancing it as the system that provides the most goods to the most people with the most freedom. But this idea that we can only value people insofar as they are cogs in some capitalist machine is disconcerting. It lends itself, as the author suggests, to a massive bureaucratic state. But it also fails to see that being a rational actor is not just about maximizing paychecks. I voluntarily sacrificed my paycheck (not that it was huge — I was in a newsroom, after all) and all I got in return were the best years of my life thus far, filled with happiness and validation and hard work and beautiful children.

I’m not saying that other women who choose differently are making bad decisions. At all. As far as I’m concerned, your job as a mother is to feed and nurture your children, but how you do it is pretty much up to you. (See: “White Flag In The Mommy Wars“)

I just want feminists to realize that some of us choose to forgo paychecks for other goods we value more highly — flexibility, time tickling fingers and toes, the joy of changing 28 diapers a day (OK, not that).