Maybe It’s Not Sexist, But Let’s Leave It Alone Anyway

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I don’t disagree with Stephanie often, but I guess there’s always a first time, and I really don’t think it’s any of our business how long Sarah Palin chose to take off after giving birth. Who knows what the circumstances were? Whether she was able to bring the baby to the office? What other reasons there might have been for why she felt compelled to do what she did? Can’t we hold more than one idea in our heads at the same time: Disagree with Palin’s choices in politics (including the ironic choice to deny women a choice… but I digress), without taking issue with her decisions as a person? Can’t we fight for every woman’s and every man’s right to family leave (and flex time, and job-sharing, and the whole work-life agenda that dropped out of the national discourse sometime in the 80s thanks in large part to GOP culture warriors–but I digress again) without worrying that one very prominent working mother’s choices will undercut our whole argument? (If our argument is that weak, we have other problems.) For an example of how to do all this better, let’s see how France’s Minister of Justice works it out–as a single mom, no less.

Oh, and while we’re at it: When Emily Bazelon and Dahlia Lithwick wonder, in their otherwise excellent Slate piece: “Is it passing judgment to observe that for most mothers, a pregnant teenager is a sign of parenting gone awry?” all I can say is, um, my first assumption would be birth control gone awry. I know it’s not going to happen, but I really, really wish we’d just focus on stuff like Palin’s global-warming denialism.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

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