Gender, Parenting, and the Law

On Saturday, February 7, I attended a conference at Stanford Law School on Gender, Parenting, and the Law. I wasn’t entirely sure it was a good thing for me to go because I’m not trained in the Law and figured that most of the discussion would go over my head. To my pleasant surprise I was totally wrong. This conference was amazing and touched on many key issues including Parenting and Work, LGBT Parenting, and Race, Biotechnology, and Gender. The most inspirational part of this conference for me, however, was the opening remarks given by Cherrie Moraga. Cherrie Moraga’s work has always spoke to me in a way that rekindles the connection between my heart and my mind. It was wonderful to get to see her speak in person for the first time. Here are a few of her ideas that really resonated with me: She shared with us her frustration of parenting in society and culture without radical and transformative models of parenting. She asserted that the nuclear family model is one that serves the interests in capitalism and patriarchy and spoke about how she finds herself looking backward, not forward, for models of parenting and family that perserve a cultural integrity not based on consumer citizenship or understandings of the self as a product. These ideas struck me hard in that I too am constantly searching for ways to be, to love, and to live in the world that are based on structures and notions of reciprocity rather than alienation, individualism, and isolation. From this conference I walked away with a renewed sense that yes! there is an alternate way to be on this planet that is based on a sense that your flourishing is dependent of mine and that it is possible to do the work it takes to advance together. What a great way to spend a Saturday!