What society thinks women want

I thought this article was interesting.

I don't know exactly what I think of it, but I thought I'd come rant and ramble a little to come up with a reaction.

I don't feel like "society" is pressuring me to do the things I do. I think I've stumbled into them of my own free will and choice, if not while terribly well informed. "Society" doesn't tell me to be a professor...there are big chunks of it that say I shouldn't. "Society" doesn't tell me to be a mom...there are people who think that having kids is selfish, and others who think that it's foolish. So both of the things that take up most of my time, I do because I want to do them.

I agree with the idea that perfect balance is impossible. There are seasons when different aspects of life demand a disproportionate amount of time. For example, just after BeeBoo was born, had I tried to take classes, teach, and mother, I would have DIED! (Breastfeeding demanded intense attention for us...maybe other people pick it up faster, but I enjoyed the process...mostly :-) So she got a four-month, mom-is-totally-into-me phase. And she's due for one again this summer...which is good, and overdue.

I guess what I'm saying is that instead of creating a cultural paradigm shift of lack of balance, we should work on the principle of punctuated equilibrium. (Hey, if she can mis-apply Thomas Kuhn's scientific term, I can use Stephen Jay Gould's...thanks to Pratt's science and lit class for that one!). Instead of worrying about changing what anyone else thinks, we can recognize key moments at which the structure of our lives change...drastically, suddenly, completely even.
And accept them as part of our own evolution.

So, rather than make everyone think the way we do about life, why not just operate under the assumption that (barring injuring other people) we can do what we like, when we like, the way we like, and it'll be okay? Cause, usually, it is.