About

Cheryl Miller is a 2007 Phillips Foundation Journalism Fellow and the editor of Doublethink magazine. Her work has appeared in such publications as The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Wall Street Journal, Reason, and The Claremont Review of Books.

She can be contacted at cheryl [at] americasfuture [dot] org.

Read my other blog. The one that's not obnoxious and self-absorbed!

Recent publications

"The Master" in The Claremont Review of Books

"Scary Rise of the 'Sanctimommy'" in The Washington Times

"Why Malamud Faded" in Commentary

"Blogging Infertility" in The New Atlantis

"Outsourcing Childbirth" in The Wall Street Journal

"The Painless Peace of Twilight Sleep" in The New Atlantis

"The Genius of Old New York" in The Claremont Review of Books

"Parenthood At Any Price" in The New Atlantis

"Modern Girls and the Moral Revival They Are Leading" in The Washington Times

ARTICLE ARCHIVE

Links

Monday, February 25, 2008

Move Along, Nothing To See Here

Since no woman cannot not have an opinion about the Lori Gottlieb article (and I cannot stop reading about it), here we have Meghan Daum's column, which somehow manages to bring together two of my burning interests: 1) not dying alone and 2) assisted reproductive technology. Alas, I was disappointed. Daum comes so close to saying something actually interesting, even daring about ART. Take this:

Reproductive technology, a boon for countless people, has also created a strange kind of tyranny. By extending the deadline and loosening the criteria for getting pregnant, by granting no exemptions from the unremitting pressure to procreate (Menopausal? No problem! Lesbian? No excuse!), the ever-widening window of reproductive opportunity contributes to the notion that not only should parenthood be available to every individual or couple, it's a good idea for every individual or couple too. One needn't pay a midnight visit to the diaper aisle of Walgreen's to suspect that that might not actually be the case.

(This bit is also pretty good: "the problematic aura of 'empowerment' that surrounds popular notions of single-by-choice parenting.")

But then, just as you think she is about to say something that will actually upset someone not Maggie Gallagher, she backtracks and explains the people she really means aren't single mothers or lesbians as she hinted at before, but women who "want a baby in the same way they want a Louis Vuitton bag." A courageous stand, I think we can all agree. All the more so since Daum never explains exactly who these women might be. In all my interviews with people undergoing infertility treatments, I have never come across one. And it's not even clear she thinks this applies to Gottlieb, making the column all the more pointless.

(P.S. Is there some reason that the feminist critique of ART almost always takes the form of this "cult of mommy" silliness: i.e., Are you really sure you want a baby or is that just the patriarchy (and all that cute stuff at BabyGap!) talking? My guess is after the hysterosalpingogram you're pretty sure.)

Labels: angry woman beat, repro tech

posted by Cheryl # 6:12 PM

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