Turning Point USA’s CEO and Chairperson, Erika Kirk, is doubling down on a familiar message: women were “made to be mothers.” Even as many of the young women she’s trying to reach are busy paying rent, building careers, and ignoring advice that sounds like it time-traveled in from a different century.
She then returned to a theme she has aired before, insisting that a woman’s first duty is to home life. ‘You are the guardian of your home and raising your children is the most precious blessing you could have as a woman because as a woman you were made to be a mother,’ she said.
Her remarks were clipped and shared widely online, where many users accused her of romanticising dependence and erasing women who cannot or do not want to have children. Others, often from the same conservative base she is trying to mobilise, argued that her rhetoric ignores the reality that many families rely on two incomes.
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In a relatively short period, she has become known for language that critics have described as Christian nationalist. She has urged ‘young, white, male men’ not to become ‘disenfranchised’ and has repeatedly encouraged women to embrace what she frames as a ‘sacred duty’ to be wives and mothers.
‘There’s actually [no] more beautiful and emotional and powerful ‘job title’ if you will [than] being a mother,’ she said in remarks from a separate appearance.
There’s always something a little revealing about these speeches: the same movement that insists it’s all about “freedom” suddenly gets very specific about what women are supposed to do with theirs. Kirk’s pitch lands about as well as you’d expect in an economy where most households need two incomes, and most women have already decided that “sacred duty” is a lot less compelling than autonomy.
It is the job of every wife to plan an excellent fireworks display to celebrate their husband’s murder.
Ah. The Phyllis Schlafly for this era. Great.
EK seems to be doing a shite job of following her own advice.