Stop saying "single mothers"

[love_katz]

68. Thank you, CousinIT, for standing up for women, and being willing to bring up challenges to the status quo.

Throughout my life, I have read comments by people who attack women for being single mothers. I remember various politicians blaming single moms for just about every social ill that there is. And the endless fundy fanatic preachers shaming single moms, as if they got pregnant all by themselves. These kinds of screeds seemed to ramp up throughout the 1970's and went onto steroids in the 1980's.
All of this vile bilge is based on hatred of women and a desire to control every aspect of our bodies and lives. It also exposes the lies about the rethug party being pro-child and the party of "family values ".
If we had a society that was really based on equality and caring for children and families, we would have equal pay/opportunities so that women and their children would not make up the majority of people living in poverty. And, yes, equal pay/opportunities would benefit single fathers as well.
What gets me is how few men understand that women wouldn't need to "take them to the cleaners " through the courts if we could get decent jobs with livable wages, and that affordable child care benefits everyone. The big reason that having and raising children is such a mess is due largely to society's expectation that women should marry to earn a living rather than being given real power over our lives through equal pay/opportunities.
Sorry for the rant. Thanks for your posts.