"The day of the girlboss is over, and with her goes the valorization of individual choice. We once heard that our place was in the White House but that if we wanted to stay in the kitchen, that was all right too. Choice feminism was a political fiction; it presumed autonomy, which we had not yet won. Liberalism has no answer for the vengeful anti-feminist backlash that is taking its place. Women are entering a new era of struggle."
"Although we still have choices, they are limited and under renewed threat. To Vice-President J.D. Vance, " childless cat ladies" threaten an essential American project; by withholding children, they withhold the most meaningful social contribution they can make. President Trump once proposed a vague "tax credit" for family caregiving, which is largely performed by women, but never released a formal plan and is silent on the matter now."
After Dobbs, American women lost reproductive protections and face a renewed, older assault on legal abortion that limits autonomy and choice. The cultural ideal of the ‘girlboss’ and choice feminism eroded, revealing that presumed autonomy was incomplete. Political forces prize fertility over reproductive liberty, pressing pronatalist policies while offering weak caregiving supports. Conservative voices and Christian nationalists portray women who forgo motherhood as threats and promote domestic roles as natural. These legal rollbacks and cultural pressures combine to constrain women's options and usher in a sustained era of struggle over reproductive and social rights.
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