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Single Mom Seeking Causes Stir at Washington Post

Jen Lawrence is an MBA and former banker who left the world of finance for the world of sippy cups and goldfish crackers. She writes about her experiences on her blog MUBAR (Mothered Up Beyond All Recognition). She is an Editorial Assistant for Literary Mama's Reviews section and also contributes to the Literary Mama blog. Her work has appeared in The Philosophical Mother. She lives in Toronto, Canada with her husband and two children.

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Single Mom Seeking Causes Stir at Washington Post

Posted in Writing by Jen Lawrence on July 5, 2006

1 Comment

Who knew that dating as a single mom would cause such a stir?

On July 3rd - 4th , Literary Mama's Rachel Sarah was the guest blogger at The Washington Post for Leslie Morgan Steiner's "On Balance" column. Read it here: "Single Mom Seeks Play Dates, Blind Dates."

But beware! Her short, light-hearted piece on dating as a single mom proved to be controversial.

Leslie Morgan Steiner warned:

"Rachel -- Get your thick skin on. . . I had no idea there was so much sexist vitriol out there! Does this rabid prejudice against single moms ring true for you? It is INSANE!. . ."

Literary Mama's Senior Editor Ericka Lutz wrote into the Washington Post:

I am quite stunned by the nature of so many of the comments! Scary, sexist, judgmental, hurtful. If you're interested in visiting a forum for intelligent mother-writers without the venom, I suggest you come by Literary Mama.
Rachel Sarah has a regular column here where you can get a fuller sense of her life as a strong, wonderful mother and person.

This June, the American Jewish Press Association awarded Rachel Sarah's single parenting columns for j., the Jewish news weekly of Northern California a Louis Rapoport Award for Excellence in Commentary. Of course, many of these dates have made it into her Literary Mama column, "Single Mom Seeking," too.

One of her recent love stories also won Tango Magazine's "Romance Story Submission."

Comments

I couldn't believe the negative comments. Rachel is a wonderful mother and woman, and didn't deserve any of this. As a single mom starting to date again (after 3 years of not much adult time), I felt like I, too, was being attacked, and single mothers everywhere were being challenged.

If we protect our children from our dating lives, what's so wrong with a single adult woman deciding to date? My goodness.

Posted by Amy on Jul 10, 2006

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