Ahh, the memories … it’s good to be the youngest.

I hear you about the mommy wars, which I think are mostly ginned up by media coverage and “Dr.” Laura Schlessinger. I think you’re right that there’s no way to win–the problem is that one choice isn’t always better in every case than the other (crudely put, to work for pay outside the home, or to work for nothing inside the home). As a wise friend of mine once said, that kind of advice only makes sense if all women and all children are absolutely identical, and course that’s absurd. The big problem is that whether women choose to stay home or to go to work, women making decisions about their lives, and we can’t have that! No, sirreee. Whatever you personally choose to do for yourself and your family–it’s wrong. Just keep that in mind, and you’ll do fine.

This is what I tell my women’s history students, most of whom tend to be young women: just do whatever the hell you want to do with your life, because there’s always someone who will criticize you and blame you for imaginary crimes against your children (or, your lack of children and therefore your crimes against nature, which will be held against you too.)