Men Have a Biological Clock Too, But Why Is That a Good Thing?
Photo: Thinkstock / The Bump
This guest post was written by The Bump executive editor Rebecca Dolgin.
In case you missed it, last week a study published in Nature linked a father’s age to autism, schizophrenia and other diseases. According to the piece, fathers passed on four times as many genetic mutations as mothers.
This is bad news. But, from the press coverage it got last week, you’d think this was the best thing to happen to women over 35 who want to have kids. Here’s what CNN anchor Ashleigh Banfield had to say, “I had my babies at 38 and 39 and I was terrified,” she said on air. “Honey, you’re in the conversation now. It’s not just me.” I don’t mean to single her out — there were tons of comments just like hers. It seems like we (well, by “we” I mean “ women” in general) almost seem happy about this report. Suddenly someone else can be blamed. Has it really gotten this bad?
I think this is really sad. And misses the whole point. Am I the only one who feels this way?
Post a comment here or tweet me @rebdolgin.
Plus, more from The Bump:
Autism: What Every Parent Needs to Know
The Knot Blog
The Nest Blog
Agreed! It’s not about who’s to blame. It’s about having a healthy baby — and about helping a baby who needs it.
It’s upsetting that mothers are choosing to point fingers. The important thing is that we’re learning more about a child’s genetic make up — the research shouldn’t result in a blame game.
No reason to point the finger — you’ll do enough of that when your kid grows up!
I did feel a small sense of relief to have some of the blame taken off of me though!
I get sick of all the blaming too!! I think in general moms feel they take on the burden of responsibility for everything related to children (from getting pregnant to staying pregnant to giving birth to the primary person in child rearing) that I think what is being expressed (perhaps not in the most productive or tactful way) is just relief they can share the burden and not everything is their “fault”. (I hate that that word used for this though…it’s biology, not something anyone did on purpose!)