Does Mama belong in the kitchen?
Posted on October 17, 2007 - Filed Under And your point is?, Adult swim
Erin and Maggie have been visiting Grandma and Grandpa in Florida for the last 10 days or so; they return on Saturday. These (almost) 2 weeks have gone by very fast, helping me not feel too lonely. Hunting and work have kept me busy, mentally and physically. Plus, I was pretty sick all last week, perfectly content to come home from work and moan. I was thinking about all of this and how I feel about it. I realized single men often pursue high degrees of simplicity and endeavor to keep their lives free of anything that might complicate it. (Before you think I mean ‘complicate’ in a negative way, you need to remember that the word is neutral–it’s only us who insist on adding the negative connotations to it.) Life without a wife, children, pets, the responsibility of a house, etc. may certainly be simplistic, but it can also be desolate in a way. It seems to be a battle between two competing instincts, the need for companionship and the desire to glide through life without distractions. (Keep in mind that these are obviously my opinions and that I don’t really know any more about human nature than the next guy.)
Anyway, men have always, from the time they were not men but apes in the trees, been the ones who hunted the game, built the shelter, defended the group against enemies, and utilized their physical strength when necessary. In order to succeed in all of these task categories, they must function as simplistically as possible. Some would be offended by this, but if we can accept this premise as plausible, isn’t it then also possible that a woman’s place is indeed in the home? Are humans hard-wired such that a man is supposed to go out and face the world while his wife prepares and maintains the home?
The trouble with this debate comes when individuals cannot accept that other individuals might be inclined to do something other than what we think they should be doing. In other words, some people think a woman has no place in the work force. Why can’t it be the case that most women stay in the home but that individuals who wish to venture out be allowed to do so? Why can’t it be the case that most men go out and work but that individuals who want to stay at home be allowed to do so? As a society, we are slowly loosening our grip on these beliefs and becoming more tolerant of people making choices we ourselves might not be inclined to. But the fact remains that we think, perhaps as a reflection of what we intuitively know of our biology, men are the breadwinners and women the bread bakers. I firmly believe, for instance, that if Hillary Clinton does not become the President-elect next Fall, it will be due in large part to us holding on to these beliefs. In short, the idea of a female president offends people on a deep-down level because she ought to be making cookies.
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