I have the pleasure of knowing some amazingly talented female artists who star in a cutting edge reality show called Life of an Artist. The show documents their personal and professional lives as women in the art world.
The most recent episode (featured above) entitled Feminism Today rang true to some of my experiences not only as a woman, but as a mother as well. Many career-driven, succesful women fight the natural desire to mother a child, because they feel there is never a perfect time to have a baby. Mothers face adversity in our careers for taking off time for maternity leave or for skipping work to care for a sick babe. Not to mention the despair that comes when choosing work over spending time with children.
In balancing motherhood with my career, I've had to make tough decisions surrounding the accomplishments I've spent my life acheiving. While there have been moments of guilt and stress, I am happy I choose to stay home with Charlotte 24/7, while continuing to work as a freelance writer. Most of my articles are written at night after Charlotte has gone to sleep, and as deadlines approach I enlist the help of my family.
While it is much different than driving in to an office full-time, I'm also convinced that my workload has increased by 100 times between the baby, chores, dogs and writing.
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| Charlotte enjoying a snack at the park |
In this revolutionary video, I became emotional watching Ingrid, a new mom and artist, breastfeed her tiny baby in one of the scenes. While my experience breastfeeding has made my home life so much easier, it has almost eliminated my ability to have any other type of life beyond that. It was empowering to see her proudly breastfeeding her newborn, especially because breastfeeding mothers are often shamed for "exposing" themselves. Breasts are usually represented as a sexual object on the internet and everywhere else in the world, and the only way to change people's minds is by bringing to light the reality of this delusion.
This episode presents a panel of influential women, including my intelligent friend Evan, who open up a discussion around the unique obstacles that women and mothers face. The panel addresses numerous issues that affect female artists, but that are absolutely relevant to every person. Feminism and equality aren't just subjects for women, they are important for all people to examine.
Watch the video, comment with your thoughts, and share it with your friends. Talking about this topic is so incredibly important, because we want to raise our daughters and sons in a world that respects all people, women included.
(Charlotte's birth announcement even makes a little debut in the background of a couple scenes.)
