Feminism Worships At The Altar Of The Single Mother

By Georgia Leigha Leatherdale-Gilholy: Every decade since the Second World War - corresponding with the progress of Western feminism - women have got unhappier, divorce rates have increased almost exponentially, and children are now more likely to have a smartphone than a dad at home. Correlation does not always equal causation, but when mainstream feminism promotes the ideology of female irresponsibility in the guise of some superior morality, it is hardly remarkable that such tragedies have come to pass. Feminism has gone far beyond the bounds of its dictionary definition, and has redefined itself as a profane, jealous stream of far-leftism, that not only preaches misinformation, but feeds something even more sinister. The first victim of this philosophy has been motherhood.

Lena Dunham is the latest celebrity to embody this phenomenon, claiming in her popular Women of the Hour podcast, that she ‘wished she had had an abortion’, epitomising the bizarre anti-morality this sect espouses. Dunham is no outlier, and to the most enduring post-war feminist icons, motherhood was not a blessing or a joy but- in the words of Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger - a tyranny. First a preserve of minority Marxist elites, this feticidal mindset has since permeated far beyond, and is both a cause and an impact of today’s throwaway attitude toward anything that might require selfless dedication.
The feminist scorn for the home actually denigrates the commendable job that is the raising of the next generation, infantilising the often educated and intelligent women who make this choice over a career. Not everyone should have children, and nor does everyone want them, but feminism dually pushes women toward singlehood and the workplace, while simultaneously disregarding the reality that most of them will want families. Studies consistently conclude that stay-at-home mothers appear to be the happiest segment of adult female society, and married couples report the highest life satisfaction (yes this includes the bedroom).
Meanwhile, the mainstreaming of incessant demands for quotas and all-female shortlists, is itself an insulting confession of female inferiority from the very lobby that claims to empower us. Couples that do stay together are working more, earning less, and leaving their children to be raised by the State. But if family breakdown was the worst casualty of 'free-for-all' feminism, the collapse of marriage was the first; with couples in lower income categories bearing the brunt of the impact. Feminism offers countless complaints, some justified some not, but no viable alternatives. Critical theory simultaneously decries marriage as an inherently oppressive social construct, and yet cruelly tells women they will be happy alone and childless, which most of them haven't been-  at least according to the United States General Social Survey.
If Hollywood tells us anything, it is that feminism worships at the altar of the single mother. Popular culture is saturated with countless virtuous tropes, while more children than ever are raised amid dysfunction - the victims of an epidemic of fatherless families. These either neglected or overindulged children grow to be damaged adults, and what is a vicious cycle continues to be packaged as liberation. There can be no room for a compromise in a generation that was always told it was special, and the ‘end them rather than mend them’ mindset toward relationships is thus unsurprising. Feminists propagate the value of a hedonistic, fast-food attitude toward relationships, ignoring any statistics that prove otherwise (which is most of them), and dismissing any critics as heretics. Waiting until marriage - or at least engagement, (yes Anne Boleyn, I’m looking at you) - used to be the norm, and now it is the exception.
In economic terms, the sexual revolution, has ensured that sex as a commodity has flooded the market, and its price is now next to nothing, destroying women's age-old role as gatekeepers. Upward rates of abortions, STDs, and single parenthood are not just suggestive of a culture already far down the road of moral and demographic suicide, but represent the physical and psychological symptoms that overdosing on feminism has already ensured. Every human deserves to choose how they live their life, but to pretend that all choices will result in equally valuable outcomes is an obvious falsehood. Take note third-wave feminism: if you cut a great road through the law, do not expect to stand upright in the winds that will blow then.

Georgia is a History student at King’s College London, who writes on a variety of political and cultural topics. Follow her on Twitter @thepedant_

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