Kamala Harris Is A Stepmom — Does That Imply She’s Not Match To Govern?

It’s been about 24 hours since President Joe Biden introduced he was ending his reelection marketing campaign and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, who has since change into the presumptive front-runner for the Democratic ticket. And I’d say it didn’t take lengthy for the misogynistic assaults to start, however let’s be trustworthy right here: Have we ever actually been with out them? Take for example a just lately resurfaced clip from 2022 by which then-Senate candidate, now-VP candidate J.D. Vance spoke with (who else) Tucker Carlson repudiating Harris for her lack of… kids.

We’re successfully run on this nation through the Democrats … by a bunch of childless cat girls who’re depressing at their very own lives and the alternatives that they made, and they also need to make the remainder of the nation depressing, too. It’s only a fundamental reality. You’ve got Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC, the whole way forward for the Democrats is managed by folks with out kids. How does that make any sense after we’ve turned our nation over to individuals who don’t have a direct stake in it.

In current days, comparable sentiments concentrating on Harris’ lack of organic kids have popped up on X, from each nameless customers (“Kamala Harris has no kids due to the quite a few STDs she had as a prostitute”) and conservative pundits like Will Chamberlain (“Actually easy, underdiscussed [sic] purpose why Kamala Harris shouldn’t be President No kids”) and Laura Loomer, whose claims I can solely describe as fully unhinged.

(I don’t even know the place to start fact-checking that final one, however I do really feel it necessary to level out that abortion, even a number of abortions, doesn’t usually have an effect on fertility.)

There’s loads to unpack right here, and none of it’s terribly nice, however let’s dive in anyway…

This argument is stunning however not terribly stunning.

Utilizing a girl’s fertility as an necessary measure of her womanhood and price as an individual is a lynchpin of far-right conservative ideology, and never simply of their aggressive anti-choice insurance policies. Conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly, for instance, noticed motherhood as a girl’s pure future, a task that ought to supersede all others. (That is, after all, ironic contemplating she herself had a vibrant profession as a pundit whereas she railed in opposition to working ladies.) In her e book The Energy of the Constructive Girl, she argued, “it’s ludicrous to counsel that [other jobs] are extra self-fulfilling than the every day duties of a spouse and mom within the house.” (Vance would repeat this sentiment in 2022.) Sarah Palin tied conservative politics to ideas of motherhood, coining the time period “Mama Grizzlies.”

And yet one more ingredient of conservative politics is the concept that, since a girl’s chief function in life is to mom kids, she must be doing that as a substitute of working exterior the house. So, OK, let’s take this to its logical conclusion: Ladies who’ve kids needn’t apply as a result of they need to give attention to elevating them, and girls with out kids additionally needn’t apply as a result of they don’t have a “direct stake” sooner or later you’re making an attempt to construct.

So the place does that depart ladies as a gaggle…?

Humorous how this “concern” solely appears to be leveled at liberal and progressive ladies in authorities and media…

So far as I do know, this speaking level hasn’t been used to argue in opposition to the political ambitions of Alabama Kay Ivey (Republican governor of Alabama, no kids), Elaine Chao (former Republican cupboard member beneath two completely different presidents, no kids), or Condoleezza Rice (former Republican secretary of state, no kids). It’s not one thing child-free pundits like Ann Coulter or, certainly, Laura Loomer, get criticized for. It’s nearly as if in the event you’re prepared to work for the agenda of the folks making these arguments, you get a go. Think about.

Not having organic kids doesn’t appear to be a problem for conservative opinion on the likes of Matt Gaetz, to say nothing of former presidents George Washington, James Madison, Andrew Jackson, James Polk, James Buchanan, or Warren G. Harding. LOL, JK, everyone knows we’re not judging males by their fertility. That’s an entire completely different normal. A second normal: a “double normal,” if you’ll.

Kamala does have children.

Her husband, Doug Emhoff, has two kids (Cole and Ella) from a earlier marriage, now adults. The 2 also have a nickname for Harris: Momala. In her first speech as Biden’s operating mate, she stated, “I’ve had numerous titles over my profession, and positively vp shall be nice, however ‘Momala’ will all the time be the one which means essentially the most.”

Anybody who has had a beautiful stepparent or has cherished a stepchild can attest to the truth that the stepparent-stepchild relationship will be as actual, and fantastic, and significant as a relationship with a organic father or mother or little one. To decrease this expertise — to disclaim the significance of stepparents within the lives of the kids they select to welcome into their hearts — is just not solely laughable however insulting. (And, contemplating greater than 30% of Individuals have a step-relative of some kind, positive to make many citizens bristle.)

Additional, dismissing non-traditional mothers like Harris places all non-bio mothers into query — that features stepmoms, mothers who undertake, mothers who foster, mothers who use surrogates, and numerous queer mothers, too.

Assuming one can solely care in regards to the future you probably have a “direct stake” in it’s telling on your self.

Once I hear arguments like this — that assume an individual can solely be really invested in points that personally contact them — I don’t consider that as a “gotcha,” I consider it as a troubling confession, particularly from a politician. It looks like an admission from the individual making the argument that they will solely fathom really caring in regards to the folks they know and love. That they care in regards to the future as a result of they see a model of themselves in it. Definitely I’m not saying that kids can’t or don’t encourage an individual to really feel extra invested in a trigger. However I’d hope that anybody in search of a place of energy can think about caring about all kids, even when they’re not biologically linked to you.