A 38-year-old woman said she felt “betrayed by feminism” while tearfully describing her fear of ending up alone and childless during an interview with Fox News Digital.
Melissa Persling wrote a piece for Business Insider in November titled, “I’m 38 and single, and I recently realized I want a child. I’m terrified I’ve missed my opportunity.” The piece detailed her transformation from not wanting children following her divorce to wanting to “build a life” with someone.
Persling wrote she first got married at the age of 22 and settled in the rural area of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, where her and her ex-husband met in sixth grade. Her ex-husband wanted her to be a stay-at-home wife and mother, but she did not want that.
At the age of 30, Persling and her husband divorced, according to her Business Insider piece.
“At that time I felt very strongly I did not want children, that I wasn’t going to be like the traditional housewife. I knew I did want to pursue a career,” she told Fox News Digital in an interview. “And I felt very strongly that that would never change. And I guess I was wrong.”
Melissa Persling originally never wanted to have a traditional life delaying having children
Now approaching 40 she said in a recent viral essay that she has been ‘betrayed by feminism’ after realising that she wants to have kidshttps://t.co/kDOdNOz67V
— Metro (@MetroUK) December 12, 2023
She described her ex-husband as “a good and hardworking man,” but said she likely did not make him feel that way, according to Fox News. She said she felt “disdain” for the “small-town” lifestyle and was resentful when he asked her to cook dinner or do his laundry. (RELATED: ROOKE: What’s The Point In A Husband Anyways?)
She told Fox Digital she became “panic-stricken” by the time she turned 38.
“I was panic-stricken,” she said. “I really thought, ‘I’m going to be alone forever.’ It really scared me. I almost wrote [the article] as sort of a warning to other women. I don’t want people to miss out on the important things in life because they’re just enjoying themselves because I don’t think that that’s ever going to really make you happy,” she said.
Persling said it is relationships that make a person find “true happiness,” according to Fox News. She blamed feminism for feeding her the idea women do not need men in their lives.
“I feel unbelievably betrayed by feminism, and I don’t want to put it on the movement [entirely] because I believe you make your own choices … But I was constantly fed this idea that women can do everything. We don’t really need men … I kind of want to go back to some of those teachers and coaches and say, ‘What did you mean by that? Because we can’t do it all,'” she said.
“I feel like I’m in such a different place now,” she continued. “And I’m so ready for that now. I understand what the sacrifice of marriage is and what the beauty of marriage is now, and I don’t think I appreciated what family means for a long time. I don’t think I truly understood,” she said during the interview. “I don’t care if I ever put on heels and go to a fancy dinner again. That stuff does not matter. I promise you young women it will never make you happy.”
She further attributed her parents’ divorce during her childhood to her feelings about relationships, Fox News reported.
Fortunately, she said she met a guy after writing the article who she has discussed marriage with, Fox News reported. After being friends with him for a long time, she realized he is “the one” who hit her like “a ton of bricks.”