Where Have All the Feminists Gone? (From Erica and Emily)

According to some highly credible hyperbole (aka someone somewhere once said this to Erica), out of every million people who visit a blog, only a thousand return, and only one person writes a comment. This general principle has proven true with Not Another Wave, where our readers vastly outnumber those who actively participate in the discussion. Our recent hiatuses from the bloggernet notwithstanding, we Mods are anxious to get more people involved in important discussions about gender, equality, etc. etc. In the past we've tried pleading, persuading, and guilt-tripping friends into contributing, but in light of how limited our success has been, we've decided to take a different approach.

First of all, we're trying to understand why so few of our readers comment or contribute, especially since we allow anonymous commenting. One friend who is currently working on his PHD IN LITERATURE! (Ben, I'm talking about you) claimed he wasn't a "strong enough writer" to contribute (ridiculous, I know), and non-PhD-candidates have expressed similar concerns too. If people are feeling intimidated by our current contributors and guest writers, we can certainly understand. Few people have Lux's sense of humor, Carl's confidence, Erica's expertise, or Emily's arrogance. But here's something to keep in mind: the real reason all of us have contributed is because we care about the issues we're writing about. These things matter to us, and we write about them in order to get our ideas out there.

But as fun as it is to read debates between Emily and Erica, childhood friends who grew up less than a mile apart in a tiny New England town simply don't provide the kind of diverse insights we're looking for. So, here's the deal: if you don't have the time, expertise, drive, etc. to contribute a full entry, or the nerve to comment on a post by one of the contributors (Erica can be scary, as Emily is very willing to testify... behind closed doors), or if you hesitate to contribute for any reason whatsoever, here's a new opportunity:

For the rest of January, we will be featuring a Question of the Day series. We'll ask an open-ended question each day and will welcome any and all thoughts, opinions, rants, etc. that you feel like sharing. Your responses can come in any size. If you want to write one word, kudos. If you want to write a novel, more power to ya. If you think we're asking a dumb question and that we should discuss something more important, go ahead and tell us that too. Just get your voice and opinion out there, in whatever way you possibly can.

And on that note, here is the question of the Day for January Tenth:

As this day happens to be the birthday of one contributor's mother (we won't say whose, in the interest of maintaining internet safety), we're welcoming thoughts on motherhood.

Some Questions you might comment on:
How do you feel about your mother?
How have she and her female ancestors impacted you?
If you're a woman, how do you feel about the prospect of becoming (or not becoming) a mother some day?