Agnostic.com

4 2

The makings of a feminist.

I was reading an interview with Ann Patchett in Time Magazine, about her new book, and ran across this: “Danny was a very easy character to write because, oddly enough, I have known many men who are smart and charming and funny and interesting, who have no understanding of the fact that their whole life is built on the shoulders of the women who carry them around.”

That really hit home for me. It could be describing me, and I've only come to realize it late in life. No wonder Dawn was ready to get away after the kids were grown. She was carrying the whole family.

I grew up in a family where the women carried most of the burden--my mom and my grandmother who lived with us. My dad was a good father, and not uninvolved, but he was gone 11 hours a day because of the distance from where he worked. He also worked swing shift, so he was home at different odd hours of the day, and it didn't seem to me like he was gone as much as he was. He did some things around the house, though not a lot, and absolutely nothing of what was then considered “women's work”. I mowed the grass and took the trash out and fed the dogs. Well, most of the time anyway--the fallback was always my mom or grandmother.

When I was married, briefly, the first time, I had a job and she didn't, so she did all the household stuff. (It was the early 70s.)
When I was on my own for a few years after the divorce, things really fell apart because I had no idea how to “adult” without a woman to do certain things. When I married Dawn, we gradually came to a consensus on who did what. I did some basic housecleaning and the dishes every day, along with the basic yard work. She did show me how to iron a shirt and do laundry, along with other things, though I rarely did either. She cooked and did the laundry and decided when to do the serious housecleaning. She also took care of the finances, because I was really bad at it. Without going into all the particulars, most of the load fell on her.

So here I am, 64 years old, and still learning how to adult.

There are lots of other reasons I'm becoming a feminist, though. This is just a brief sketch of one of them. I've learned much from my ex-wife and daughter.

Tomfoolery33 9 Oct 3
Share

Enjoy being online again!

Welcome to the community of good people who base their values on evidence and appreciate civil discourse - the social network you will enjoy.

Create your free account

4 comments

Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.

1

I think it is a bit unfair to group all men together like this. I grew up in a household where my father worked and brought home (a meagre) pay and my mother did everything in the house. My father could just about make a cup of tea. I remember as a fifteen year old looking after him when my mother was in hospital.
Like my siblings I moved out of the family home at 16 to bedsit land and had to learn to cook or starve.
Certainly some of my schoolmates left the family home to get married and probably perpetuated this pattern but many men now take their share in all the chores.
I do most of the cooking in our household as I am retired and my partner still works and to see my son confidently handling, changing and feeding his new son was amazing.
No i think Ann Pratchet is way of the mark

True, not all men are like this, but there are way too many that are.

1

My story is similar , but significantly different in others. I was 25 years old before I ever cooked for myself, ironed my own shirts, did my own laundry, or did simply housekeeping. Once married for the first time, I wanted to concentrate on my career and on being the primary provider, so I turned all of the cooking, housekeeping, too much of the child-rearing, and the family finances over to my wife.

I grew to regret that. My first wife turned out to be too self-centered, manipulative, and coercive to be a good shaper of the lives of our daughters. She also eventually used her managing of our finances into an opportunity to take almost all that I had earned and saved. But, as a consequence of that I have become pretty good at taking care of myself and my own life and relationships.

1

My biggest eye opener was when I left the nest after high school, and realized how much farther ahead of me, girls were. There was no expectation I would develop as an independent adult.

I remember a huge argument. All my sisters had learned basic cooking skills as kids- how to make ramen, at least. But mom absolutely refused to let me "mess things up". When I was in high school, and had the munchies, me and my friends made ramen- and a mess. I got my ass handed to me. My oldest sister had kids of her own then, and invited me over to show me how to do some basic things around the kitchen. My mom got mad that my sister was "going over her head". I felt like an idiot.

3

Your experience is all too common. No wonder so many women choose to remain single or leave marriages where the "value" they receive doesn't add up. And in fairness, at least at our age, there are a surprising number of women who seek this sort of dynamic. Not for me.........If I choose to be with someone, it is because they make my life better, more exciting, more interesting. I don't need a maid, mom, or caretaker.

Right.

Write Comment
You can include a link to this post in your posts and comments by including the text q:409982
Agnostic does not evaluate or guarantee the accuracy of any content. Read full disclaimer.