Liz Grapentine,
        I loved your post on sleeping as a feminist issue!  Right on the
mark, in my humble opinion.  I am *in bed* from 9 pm to 6 am.  Do I get 9
hours of sleep a night?  Some nights!  I also read, do crossword puzzles,
and lay in the dark thinking lovely thoughts -- I usually manage NOT to
stress about my job or my family.  Alex sleeps through the night now (4
years) but still wants me to nurse him to sleep at 8:45 or 9:00 and then
wants me to STAY.  He gets very upset if he wakes up and I am not there.
People often ask how I can possibly accomplish so much if I spend 9 hours a
day in bed -- but, I respond, I am well-rested when I get up at 6 am every
morning and have plenty of energy for the day.  I've read studies suggesting
that many people in modern day America are chronically sleep deprived and
actually less efficient than they would be if they spent an extra hour
sleeping instead of trying to get work done.
        I also liked your comments about breastfeeding being the thing that
*must go* if a woman doesn't have time for everyone/everything.  When I
teach my course on Women and Culture we always talk at some point about
changing women's roles in academia and the workplace in the U.S.  And I say
that first women weren't allowed to have careers/jobs outside the home, then
a few women broke into the male-only professions, but they sacrified their
personal lives by not getting married.  Then came a generation of women who
had careers and marriages, but not children.  Now we have a generation of
women who have careers and marriages and children, but say they can't fit in
breastfeeding.  It's always something!  But the next thing in line is a
generation of women who have careers, marriages, children, and are able to
breastfeed them.  That will require as wrenching and painful a set of
changes in the wider society as the previous steps.  But I'm optimistic!

Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Texas A&M University
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(409) 845-5256
(409) 778-4513