Forcing

"Forcing"?

I mean, it is the French, but still...

Elisabeth Badinter, a leading French feminist, has warned the green movement is threatening decades of improvements in gender equality by forcing women to give up their jobs and become earth mothers.

Mrs Badinter claims a “holy reactionary alliance” of green politicians, breast-feeding militants, “back to nature” feminists and child psychologists is turning Frenchwomen into slaves to green “fads” like re-usable nappies and organic food.

I'm not sure I recognize any part of that as "holy," though in general I think breast-feeding of infants is a fine idea, and "back to nature" is a concept that -- within certain reasonable limits -- could do a lot of good for a lot of people. Still, it's horrible to hear that they've forged themselves into so powerful an alliance that they can "force women" to give up their jobs. How are they accomplishing this?

In her new book, Conflit, la Femme et la Mere (Conflict, the Woman and the Mother), Mrs Badinter contends that this politically correct cabal is burdening mothers with intolerable guilt unless they stay at home and breast-feed for as long as possible.

Guilt! Ah, well.

Look, people tried to burden me with intolerable guilt for supporting the war in Iraq for several years. I don't recall feeling any actual guilt. I certainly felt some responsibility for the war, and a personal sense of duty to contribute to restoring peace and order to Iraq.

Why not guilt? Guilt comes from the inside. Someone may wish to make you feel guilt, but all they can actually do is bring the guilt you already feel to your conscious attention. If it isn't there, they can't create it.

If you find that you really feel "intolerable guilt" that you aren't spending more time with your child, perhaps you should listen to that. It isn't coming from them; they're just drawing it to your attention. The guilt is coming from inside of you, and you should probably draw off somewhere quiet and reflect on why you feel that way. It may save you regrets later in life.

If you don't find that you feel such guilt, their attempts to motivate you to feel guilty will certainly not create guilt in you. For someone who feels no guilt, such attempts sound -- I speak from experience -- more like a braying ass than the trumpet of judgment.