Well this morning my mentions are full of people telling me that I look down on people who live in the suburbs and have children. To clarify, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with living outside a city if that’s your thing (though I do have a bit of an issue with farmers)

I also (and probably more certainly) don’t think there’s anything wrong with having children. I have a child. Many of my family and friends have children. I’m leading on a project about the right to have children. I love children!

My points in question were about the ways in which PP constructs a narrative around her suburban life as a housewife with lots of children. She does this for political purposes - to appeal to that democratic.

This has a long history particularly in the US and especially around race and gender politics. Appealing to the suburban housewife is a well trodden political strategy that PP is following- she has even constructed its perfect aesthetic. Think Phyllis Schlafly.

Andrea Dworkin wrote a great book on this called ‘Right-wing Women’.

So I’m not concerned with Posie’s (or any other woman’s) lifestyle choices, I’m concerned with the political rhetoric, how it’s being operationalised and to what effect. I’m talking about political ideology. About the strategies of reaching out to the ‘moral majority’.

I’m concerned with how right wing anti-feminist politics are tied up with a bow and repackaged as ‘women’s rights’ by people such as PP and VA.

And I’m very concerned about the rights and welfare of women with several children on benefits. These women though rarely romanticise and operationalise the status of housewife.