I live in a rather conventional small town. Recently there have been numerous women who have written into the paper claiming to be feminists and defending their roles as stay-at-home moms. While I recognize that full-time child rearing is a valuable and noble option for women, I am uncomfortable with women promoting themselves as feminists. What do you think?

I have a book on this very topic: Opting In: Having A Child Without Losing Yourself. Essentially I think that women can embrace motherhood and be feminists, but they must be doing so as a result of clear thinking and a full range of choices and they must not use their experience to trump or obliterate other women's experiences with motherhood. I think that stay-at-home mothers can be engaged and political and can be feminists — but they also can't simply reclaim motherhood as a radical act of feminism when so many other women aren't afforded this luxury.

— Amy