Too often, I see sitcoms, movies and commercials where the men are portrayed as complete idiots, especially when it comes to domestic chores and child rearing. It irks me to no end.
Everybody Loves Raymond? Everybody does not love Raymond, least of all my husband and me. Raymond is a moron. Poor Debra tires of her own voice since she must nag him endlessly while he sits watching sports, or messing up something simple, like say, changing a diaper, disciplining a child, or here's a thought: cutting the cord from his mother. I'm sure there are still (cave) men out there that act like they are helpless, and perhaps they are, because their own parents never gave them the life skills needed to survive with or without a partner. And who gets to be the bad guy? The wife. Not cool. I know there are many women out there who married a child and have had to train them to be a man, or parent them.
As I write this, my husband is *gasp* folding laundry. He is doing this WITHOUT BEING ASKED. How sweet is that? If you're a husband and you're reading this, let me just say that this teamwork thing, fella, is ROMANCE.
I didn't teach Daren teamwork. His parents did. He was also smart enough to live on his own before settling down to marry. There is a lot that can be said for a guy who knows how to take care of a household alone.
Daren was the one who taught me to cook. I was surviving on Pop Tarts and Kraft Dinner before I met him. Which begs another question: if I was living on carbs back then, weighing in at a measly 118 pounds, how did my ass get so big now that I'm eating healthier? Riiiight... children.
Some of those commercials out there are the worst. Consider the one for a certain cleaning product where they are showing the different messes that the product can clean up, and the very last mess is "Dad's Spaghetti Night." Okay Dad's Spaghetti Night looks like a bloody massacre. There is sauce everywhere - including the wall... not just the usual splotches and droplets; we're talking Dad dove into the spaghetti and did flutter kicks on his belly. COME ON. No one makes that kind of mess. Or how about the dorky dad who quickly and easily makes some packaged dinner and the kids are amazed that dad can "cook." Yeah, Dad heated up some processed crud and it tastes great. It probably has 4568 milligrams of sodium! Fortunately, my boys are growing up and seeing that both Mommy and Daddy can cook and that we work together to get things done.
Article comments
1 - chantal stone
Great article Karen, and I consider myslef one of the lucky ones too. I also married a superman.....every woman should be so lucky.
But did you see how Tom sold-out on DH?? He got a job working with Lynette....no more hot hunky stay-at-home dad! Too bad, I say.
2 - Silas Kain
Karen, that's beautiful. I, too, am blessed to be loved by a man who isn't afraid to be a real man. There are millions of male heroes out there who are not conforming to the "stereotype" and I, for one, salute them all - gay, straight or bi.
3 - Tan The Man
Stereotypes exist for a reason, because there are men out there from which these stereotypes are molded from. And it might work for these men, and the women they live with. I think in the case with Everybody Loves Raymond, his character is supposed to be the model for the caveman male.
4 - Sister Ray
These ads and shows are aimed at women, because women do most of the shopping in America, and therefore they are intended to make women feel superior to the big dumb men.
5 - Baronius
I think it was George Gilder who wrote the "Iron Laws of Advertising":
1) Women are smarter than men.
2) Children are smarter than adults.
3) Animals are smarter than humans.
6 - lame
lame lame lame, pathetic mangina, i want to fuck him baby