There's been a lot of talk here about the sexism, classism etc. inherent in some of the responses to Nadya Suleman's reproductive choices. This is probably the first time I've seen anyone in the mainstream media address the issue, however:
I was pretty impressed, since the MSM usually does everything it can to pander and cater to people's baser instincts, including their hypocrisy. I'm unsurprised that the article was written by a woman, although some of the most vicious commentary I've seen on Ms. Suleman's situation was also written by women. But then, women are society's go-to people for all kinds of dirty work, especially enforcing social norms that keep other women in line, so I guess I'm not surprised.
Incidentally, this is my first post here, so I hope I haven't messed it up somehow.
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I appreciate Raina Kelley's attempt to make people question their reactionary responses to Suleman, but somehow, this article still sounds the same as other articles I've read about the situation (her insistence on referring to Suleman as "Octomom" really dehumanizes Suleman and allows the media to keep treating her like the caricature they have painted her to be).
One of Kelley's points was particularly interesting, however: that Jon and Kate Gosselin, stars of the reality show "Jon and Kate Plus 8," did not have jobs when their sextuplets were born. I think this clearly reveals that Suleman is not necessarily demonized because she is unemployed, but because she is a single mother, as opposed to the Gosselins, whose "excessive" child-bearing is legitimized by their marriage. Thus, she can be portrayed as a "welfare queen" who is trying to exploit the system by having so many children. Anyone who is familiar with the welfare system knows that it is extremely difficult to live on government assistance alone; the rhetoric surrounding "welfare queens" was created as a talking point by the conservative movement and does not reflect reality.
Yeah, if I never hear "Octomom" again, it will be too soon. It would have been classier if the author just referred to her by name.
Because I'm a dope, I thought of this pertinent remark four minutes later. Obviously, I used the term "Octomom" (argh, it burns!) too. OK, I put it in quotation marks because I don't particularly like the term, but I could have chosen to not use the term at all. At the time, I was mildly distracted and basically repeating what I'd been seeing in the news for the last million or so weeks, and didn't give it a second thought. And I should have!
There's probably some lesson to be gained from that--that culture perpetuates itself because our fuzzy little primate brains like to copy what the other apes are doing--but since I don't know the fancy sociological term for that, I'll just call it "Monkey see, monkey do." ;)
But seriously, that might be why even conscientious reporters are use that term. No excuse, but a possible reason.
I've had this reaction to the Octomon debacle since the beginning- I don't understand why the media would treat her differently than they treat the Gosselins, the Duggars, or that new family on TLC with 2 sets of twins and sextuplets.
I do not agree with what "octomom" did at all. I think the points that are generally made about her are good ones. But I also don't agree with the Gosselins, and I think it is a shame on our society that they are paid so much and given so much positive attention for something that everyone would tear apart if they weren't legally married.