It seems that some things never change.

A case in point is a recent Time Magazine cover showing an attractive couple on the beach with a title that reads “The Child-Free Life.  Seeing it reminded me of similar articles pitting women against women I’ve read over the years.   I’m convinced those kinds of articles keep cycling through because at the time they’re published there’s nothing else of relevance to report on.  That, and for whatever reason, those titles sell magazines.

When my first child was born 27 years ago, there were articles pitting working mothers against stay-at-home moms.  Then there were the breastfeeding versus bottle feeding war that was supposedly raging (and apparently still is, only now its a three way war:  breastfeeding- for- a year-or- less moms versus the nurse -them- ’til- they- can- unbutton- your- blouse set vs moms of bottle fed tots).  The funny thing is that despite the fact that articles like this regularly hit the newsstands, I’ve never personally known women who were nasty with other females over lifestyle choices.

Throughout my 30+ years as an adult, I’ve been a single woman at college, a married woman without children, a stay-at-home mom, a working mom, a single mom, and now my husband and I are empty-nesters.  And since that day when I first became a mother, I’ve had a circle of friends that have included single, childless women, married. childless women, working moms, stay-at-home moms, moms parenting their grandchildren. . . and my life has been richer for the diversity.  And unless the people I’ve associated with are just more mature than most,, I’d say that this maternal-jihad mindset is a figment of someone’s editorial imagination.

Jenni Chui’s article, Time Magazine’s ‘Childfree’ Cover – I Am Out Of The Pot – Mommy Nani Booboo, aptly refers to the title as ‘link bait;’  she also asks the the valid question, ‘aren’t we over this already?’

Of course we are.   Most women today have and will have various roles throughout their entire lives, molded by circumstances reflecting the phase they are passing through at the time.  We are so much more than our “roles” in society, at home, or at work.  We women get that we don’t fall into fixed, stereotypical boxes.  Few women can be categorized as merely stay-at-home moms.  Or merely working moms. Or merely single moms.  Or merely married-but-childless.  Or “merely” anything.

As for those who keep perpetuating articles about non-existent cat fighting within the ranks? They insult the intelligence of women everywhere.