Men, Manliness ... and All That Hooey
On today's show, Talk of the Nation discussed men, masculinity and manliness -- a topic that pushes many of my buttons.
The idea of "manliness" -- that entire shtick promoted by guys like Harvard's Harvey Mansfield -- makes me crazy. I think the patriarchal society would have disappeared about 100 years ago if we had been paying attention to how technology had removed the need for it.
What really sets me off like a rocket is when I hear people criticize women who work, saying kids need a parent at home, not just a babysitter -- as if only women are capable of childcare.
Uh, hello. Over here. Dad speaking.
As a guy who just spent more than two years at home with the kids -- by choice, I might add -- I find this argument myopic. To this day I'm still doing lots of domestic stuff: I cook for them, make cakes and cookies with them, go to PTO meetings, do the laundry for the two small ones, take them to appointments, read to them, etc., and I feel more "manly" now than I ever did in my life.
Oh, I still love steak, beer, football, baseball, the Final Four, NASCAR, hanging out with the guys, watching action movies and all that stuff. But the idea that doing all those things makes you "manly" is a load of hooey.
4:19 PM ET | 07- 2-2007 | permalink
