Have Identity, Will Fit

So I was peeing at a local Covenant church last night, and right at eye level, taped to the inside door of the stall, was an advertisement for "Motherhood Rocks" conference, sponsored by a Christian stay-at-home mom organization. I finished my pee wondering, "Does motherhood rock?" and concluded that it doesn't, really....

A person could more strongly identify with gender identity, or religious identity, and de-center the place of sexual desire in identity. Sexual desire gets worked out, then, in the context of some other more foundational identity.

This all has me thinking about my own identity options and how I balance them. Though I love being a parent, I don't like the social role of 'mom.'....

I resonate with my womanhood (though that's been a process, too), but wifedom and motherhood ... I'd rather just be a spouse and a parent. As a woman, I want to be a wife and mother on my own terms, and American evangelicalism is just so damned judgmental about how women are supposed do those things. My profession may be atheistic, relativistic, and humanistic, but at least it gives me space to express my gifts and bless the world. I've found my footing as a Christian anthropologist, but as a Christian mom...I'm just beginning.

[via The Paris Project]