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In a message dated 4/27/01 8:16:18 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
scrunchy@... writes:

<< There are no divisions along male/female lines.
Norma >>

Totally agree with this! I find that SO much sexism still exists today
with regard to housework. No matter who we get together with, it seems like
the women are in the kitchen doing the food preparation and the men are
sitting around talking or watching TV. If it's a barbecue, then for some
reason, the men can stand around it and flip stuff over but the women still
have to bring together the meal as a whole.
My husband is almost always in the kitchen with me helping and my sons
are often in there, also. Many people we know actually feel sort of sorry
for him because he does things like cook or wash dishes (as evidenced by
comments like, poor Matt...). Or they act like it's extraordinarily generous
of him to help with these things by saying things like, WOW, that's so great
that he COOKS. I know it's supposed to be a compliment to him but sometimes
I think, why aren't they saying to him, WOW, that's so great that Lucy
COOKS...And women do it as much or more than the men do.
My kids help with every single aspect of keeping things going in this
house and the three oldest have all changed diapers quite a lot, too, when
the situation called for it. I figure maybe their marriages and families
will be a lot healthier because of this. At least we're sending out five men
into society who don't have that form of sexism.

Lucy

Betsy Hill

>Or they act like it's extraordinarily generous
>of him to help with these things by saying things like, WOW, that's so
great
>that he COOKS.

I'm thinking "WOW, it's so great that he has a conscience and a sense of
fairness."

Betsy

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In a message dated 5/3/01 5:35:34 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
ecsamhill@... writes:

<< I'm thinking "WOW, it's so great that he has a conscience and a sense of
fairness." >>

It is great in a sense but isn't it just as great that a mom homeschools
or cooks or organizes something in the house, etc.? I remember one time when
my sister was working full time and came home really sick from work; her
husband cooked that night, something he rarely did, and his mom happened to
call (a really nice person, not any weird mother-in-law situation going on)
and she kept saying, "Wow, that's so NICE that he made dinner for you."
I do believe that it can be a form of sexism to act like it is
extraordinary for a husband to do something and ordinary for a wife to do it.

Lucy