In June, The Cut published an essay by Lisa Miller that’s been stuck in my craw ever since. Bearing the title “Men Know It’s Better to Carry Nothing”, Miller refers to purses as “toolkits of servitude,” arguing that the habit of carrying around lots of nonsense to deal with difficulties (napkins, Tide pens, ibuprofen, etc.) reinforces the idea that cleaning up messes is women’s work, and that men’s unencumbered existence is a mark of their greater social power. And, while I do not completely disagree with either of these points, I chafe the essay’s core suggestion that women ought free themselves by emulating men’s (purported) fecklessness. Could we not, instead, work together to make the Mom Purse seem cool?

Now and forever, my ideal purse is a Mary Poppins bag.

I am not an impartial judge on this issue as I am congenitally incapable of living a minimalist existence, but I do experience real happiness when I can reach into my giant purse and supply the ibuprofen a friend needs to ease their headache OR the post-it notes that make splitting a bill easy for both diners and waitstaff OR the chewing gum that will keep my airplane seatmate’s ears from popping. I want this open-hearted preparedness to be something we value as a culture, not something we denigrate. Because while yes, it’s true— if you aren’t carrying a napkin, it’s harder to make you clean up a mess. But all messes have to get cleaned eventually and think of how much faster it would be if everyone had a napkin to pitch in.