Caryl Rivers, Author at Women's eNews

Study: Young People Seeking Soul Mates to Marry

By Caryl Rivers ● Commentary ● June 20, 2001

A sociologist warns that young people who seek soul mates in marriage may be setting their sights too high. This author replies, good riddance to old gender scripts about solid providers and homemakers. Let’s hear it for the qualities of mind and heart.

Iconic ‘Nuclear’ Family Is a Work of Fiction

By Caryl Rivers ● Uncategorized ● May 30, 2001

Conservatives extol the mom, pop, and kids family model and describe it as traditional. But Americans throughout history were not particularly child-friendly or chaste. Serial marriages and illicit sex were common, as were births to unmarried women.

The Perfect Gift for Prehistoric Mom: A Spear

By Caryl Rivers ● Uncategorized ● May 9, 2001

On Mother’s Day, let’s remember our foremothers were working mothers. They didn’t sit around the campfire waiting for men to return with dinner. Throughout history and prehistory, women worked, hunted and often fought side by side with men.

Day Care Report Launches Misinformed Hysteria

By Caryl Rivers ● Uncategorized ● April 22, 2001

Parents with children in child care should not be worried by the results of the latest study on the effects of non-full-time-mommy care. In fact, the study should hearten many parents seeking to raise smart kids.

Gov. Jane Swift Mirrors Our Doubts About Mothering

By Caryl Rivers ● Uncategorized ● March 28, 2001

Jane Swift, pregnant with twins, is Massachusetts’ governor-elect. Critics ask: Can a mother of babies be governor? Is it “natural”? But frontier women raised children, engaged in farming, trade, weaving, healing. For Jane Swift, this job’s a snap.

Tax Dollars Could Fund Preaching of Male Dominance

By Caryl Rivers ● Arts & Culture ● March 7, 2001

The health and well-being of women and girls could suffer if tax dollars support some religious views about male dominance, spousal abuse, the ideal family structure, the primacy of marriage and the dangers of sexuality, especially teen sexuality.

Author Urges Wives Join St. Valentine in Martyrdom

By Caryl Rivers ● Commentary ● February 14, 2001

In 300 A.D., a Christian priest named Valentine became a saint through beheading. Now a popular book urges all wives to do the same–become a “Surrendered Wife” who loses her head, cares not about family finances and learns the value of submission.

Media Misreads Laura Bush as Traditionalist

By Caryl Rivers ● Commentary ● January 24, 2001

The pantheon of first ladies ranges from feisty Abigail Adams to more traditional first spouses. First Lady Laura Bush will make her own place, but already she has parted ideologically from her husband by saying abortion should remain legal.

Commentator: W Betrays His Key Women Voters

By Caryl Rivers ● Commentary ● January 22, 2001

White women voters split 48-48 percent for Bush and Gore. Many women believed W would soft-pedal his party’s unforgiving stand on abortion at home and abroad. If W had told them what he really planned, he might have lost their votes–and the election.

Bush III: Will He Emulate Father or Grandfather?

By Caryl Rivers ● Commentary ● January 11, 2001

Bush patriarchs favored family planning and reproductive rights. They also learned supporting reproductive privacy cost them the support of powerful religious conservatives. One stayed pro-choice; the other switched. What will W. do?

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