A New York Times debate bluntly titled ‘Motherhood vs. Feminism’ in April was just the latest of many attempts to cast today’s movement toward baby slings, family beds, and years of breastfeeding as the antithesis of feminist principles. And Time’s now-infamous breastfeeding-toddler cover ignited the argument yet again. By talking to hundreds of mothers, though, psychologists Miriam Liss and Mindy J. Erchull show it’s not that simple. They found that feminist moms were actually more likely to support attachment-parenting techniques than non-feminist moms, but that stereotypes about motherhood and feminism still persist.

In a study published in the journal Sex Roles, Liss and Erchull asked 222 self-identified feminists and 209 non-feminists to rate, on a scale of 1 to 6, how much they agreed with statements like ‘Parents should carry their children as often as possible’ (a key principle of attachment parenting is the recommendation that parents carry children close to the body in a sling as much as possible while doing daily tasks, eschewing strollers and sometimes even carseats) and ‘It is important to co-sleep with your child.’ They found that feminist moms agreed with the attachment-parenting tenets the most:

They also asked women how long mothers should ideally breastfeed (on […]