[Shaun J. Russell]

Originally Posted by Roger Slater

Are you saying that women are less willing to sacrifice for art than men are?

Not less willing, per se, but a common theme I've seen in many of the married, working mothers I know is that they feel they have to be completely selfless -- that they have to give up their interests for the sake of raising a family. I think there's a pervasive sense (one that is fostered by tabloids, talk shows and advice columns...) that you are a bad mother if you take time for yourself.

Any good husband should be able to pick up the slack created by his wife's need to have her creative time. Support and nurturing should go both ways...and if there is ANY merit to female empowerment, then that is it right there: all women have the right to some of their own time, no matter what the circumstances are in life.

I'm not a father yet, but will be getting married in less than a month. I know that when I am a father, I will be more than willing to share the responsibilities of raising a family, and thereby allow my wife to have some time to herself to do whatever it is she wants to do.

Basically, I think it is every woman's right to say to her husband / partner, "Honey, I need you to look after the kids for an hour while I get some writing done in the study." Any husband who doesn't respect that is, well, a jerk. I'm dead serious. It's every human's inborn right to have some time to oneself.