Juggling all the aspects of my life with some baking, writing and good old fashioned ranting thrown in

Wednesday 30 May 2012

Sugar and spice and everything nice...not necessarily

For centuries, women were treated as inferior to men. Indeed, this is still the case in some cultures, though I shan't get into all that here. It took a great deal of struggle for this to change and I believe, for the most part in Britain, it has. Of course, every now and then you'll find some bloke who seems to think women are only good for housework, childcare and occasionally getting his leg over. But nowadays, these men are seen as ignorant and old fashioned and simply wrong.

However, sexism from women seems to be on the increase. Barely a day seems to go by without hearing a fellow female making sweeping generalisations about men. They're insensitive. They're lazy. They can't possibly love their children as much as a woman can. They couldn't possibly handle the responsibilities of running a household. Some even go as far as to claim that men are, without exception, lying, cheating, violent monsters. 

Some women I have encountered seem to think that I'm subscribing to a 50s housewife lifestyle because I make the Other Half dinner when he gets home from work or because I have the good manners to check that he'd be available to babysit before I arrange an evening out with friends. What I should do, apparently, is insist that he cook every night and let him know on my way out of the door that he's looking after our child for the evening. A friend once said that she wouldn't be able to make it to playgroup the next week because her husband had a day off work and she wanted to spend it with him. A mutual friend present gave her a look of disgust mixed with utter bewilderment. Heaven forbid we enjoy time with our partners!

Of course, there is domestic violence in the world. There are terrible men who are violent, controlling and cruel. But they're not lurking around every corner! I actually think that by spreading the idea that all men are such creatures, you make it more likely that a victim is going to assume her life is quite normal and keep on with it. I've met some real monsters amongst the male sex and I haven't let that shape my opinion of men in general. Other kinds of prejudice are seen as unacceptable and I don't understand why this doesn't seem to be seen as exactly the same.  Cruelty and laziness are not traits restricted to men. Women can lie and cheat and be every bit as idle as any man could be.

So, ladies, lets try to be a bit kinder to the other sex. They don't deserve such vicious generalisations any more than we do. 




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