Flower Fortune- Sweetbriar: Poetry and fragrance.

Back before feminism, women were taught that motherhood and caring for children was exactly what they should want. They were told that having babies was all that should be expected of them, that a career could not be obtained, that women could not have equality with men in the workplace. When feminism came along, women were pushed in the opposite direction: we were told that we could have the career we wanted, we could accomplish anything and choose not to be married and have children. We were taught that men were putting us down and we needed to rise up and fight for an identity molded by career and materialistic goals. During all of this time, sex moved from taboo to everyday conversation. And now, as we struggle through a confusing era of individualism, motherhood has become just as taboo as sex once was.
 
Motherhood has become portrayed as something that cannot be as complex and fulfilling as a career. Everything is either/or: you work or you raise children, you are intelligent or you have lots of babies, you are a sexual person or you are a mother. Again, we are told we can not have it all, but this time the limitations come from feminism.

Such an enriching experience as motherhood has become sentimentalized, something women do not like to talk about as pleasurable or fulfilling or just as self realizing as having a career. And it's for a good reason that they don't speak about this experience for good reason. Men dismiss it as being emotional, other women see it as being dependent on men, or just plain dependent. Some see loving motherhood as falling back into gender roles that have been set by a patriarchal society.

My response to both extremes is: Don't be afraid to have it all. Don't be afraid if everything is pleasurable. Don't be afraid to like what you like. Don't be afraid to be who you are.

If we are supposed to be such a society devoted to individualism- why shouldn't we embrace what we want?