Celebrity single mothers misrepresent real life

Susan Sarandon had a baby. Goldie Hawn had a baby. Even Murphy Brown had a baby. And now Madonna is the newest addition to this list.

There is a new trend in Hollywood of famous, unmarried women having babies.

Like most trends that have given birth in Hollywood, this is indicative of how far removed and ridiculous these people are from real people living real lives.

Yet the public is dying to know what the events surrounding their pregnancies and the entertainment media is dying to supply them with that information.

It has become a big deal as if these women have discovered something new and interesting. But of course, this has been going on for centuries.

Women have been single mothers for a long time.

But the real women who are living their lives and struggling with issues are not trying to get publicity for being a single mother.

In fact, single mothers are continually castigated in this society. Attitudes toward women and the different aspects of motherhood have slightly progressed.

But, there remains a stigma to birthing children without being married.

Dan Quayle made a public statement about the CBS television show "Murphy Brown," in which Candice Bergen's character decides to have a child on her own. And at first, she was trying to figure out which of two men was the father!

Quayle claimed that the show was sending a message to young women that its acceptable to have a children without being married.

Really. Let's come back to reality. It's TV. The whole thing is complete fantasy.

It can be seriously contended whether women decided to go out and get pregnant while being single because it seemed great while Murphy Brown was doing it.

The average woman is not choosing to have a child alone or desiring to deal with all of the hardships parenthood without a partner.

Those women choosing to have children on their own can afford to do so. These women have money, influence and are in positions where they can do almost anything they want.

Support, in the form of babysitters or a live-in nanny, is readily available to a woman with celebrity status.

But, here on Earth, the single working women has to struggle to make sure that she finds a child care provider that has similar hours that she does.

She has to be able to afford the child care. Then once the child is of school age, the mother has to be able to afford all of the other required spending.

The decision to have a child is not only costly financially but, women spend their time protecting their reputation.

While the star is being marveled at for what she has created, real women are constantly being accused of ruining themselves.

Erica Miller is the Opinion Editor for the Daily Forty-Niner.