But a few weeks later I was thinking about some of the material in the book and requested it from the library again. It has taken 6 months or so for me to get it back. My fascination was with the (what I thought were 6 but were actually) 7 qualities of a Radical Homemaker.
Before I get to those qualities, though, I must explain about my indignation around the book. Ms. Hayes’s notion of “radical” homemaking is nothing new! Our foremothers and –fathers have done it for generations. And many of us have been “radical” for decades.
You see, technically, according to Hayes, I and many of my favorite people on the planet qualify as Radical Homemakers. Most of us have been Radical Homemakers since entering adulthood. In fact, horrifyingly for me and my later childhood, my own mother became a Radical Homemaker when I was about 11 years old! In 1972!
The reason that I am enraged and affronted by the message of the book isn’t that I don’t believe in the Radical Homemaker movement, because it’s a way of life I have chosen and would never change. It is because WE RADICAL HOMEMAKERS HAVE BEEN HERE FOR A LONG TIME. WHEN IT WAS NOT POPULAR OR COOL OR SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE OR ADMIRABLE OR “BRILLIANT” OR “VISIONARY” OR “PRACTICAL” as one review of the book stated.
It seems to me that when you choose a lifestyle that goes against the grain of society, when you are publicly mocked, ignored, discriminated against, made fun of, looked down on and rejected by the general population, that is actually RADICAL. And, interestingly enough, we True Radicals are many of the people that Hayes’s newfangled, cool, and popular Radical Homemakers seek out as mentors and teachers.
Well, that’s my rant. I will review the book in more detail in the future.
