For the thousands of women in the United States who become pregnant and bear children as a result of rape each year, the need to ensure that they can raise their children without further threat from the rapist is a critical – and largely unacknowledged – concern.
Debates on surrogacy in India are bound to be endless. But who is to decide which exploitation is more acceptable? A woman renting her womb or working low-paying jobs in inhuman conditions?
Most of the time, the choice to have children occupies the moral high ground over the choice not to have children. So occasionally, it’s nice (if weak) for me to get a potshot of moral righteousness, however unearned.
Keeping our children safe is a parent’s overriding charge. That means telling the truth, accepting that teens are sexual, and ensuring that they have all the information and resources they need to keep them from harm. Even when the child is my own.
Before the internet made it easier to network with other alternative parents, before there was a genre of mama zines, or even Hip Mama, there was China Martens' "The Future Generation: The Zine for Subculture Parents, Kids, Friends & Others."
