Tag Archives: gender roles

Hitched: The Reluctant Groom

Andrea GrimesFebruary 15, 2012 //
What "Wife" Means
The connotations of the word "wife" worry bride-to-be Andrea Grimes. Read More »

“Grooms get in free!”

That’s the generous offer from Austin Monthly, my local glossy society rag, for its “Couture, Cakes and Cufflinks,” uh, “Bridal Bash.” There’s nothing particularly unusual about this kind of shill party, and that’s what makes it particularly offensive. It’s every disgusting wedding narrative rolled into one day-long event that women are actually expected to pay to attend.

There’s so much to hate about mainstream wedding culture — the consumerism, the gender policing, the fucking consumerism, the body-shaming, did I mention the consumerism? — but perhaps the wedding-related narrative that pisses me off more than any other is the idea that men are incapable of being interested in weddings and must be coddled and babied so that their delicate wedding-hating sensibilities are not offended. Keep reading »

Hitched: What Does It Mean To Be A Wife?

Andrea GrimesFebruary 1, 2012 //

I’ve been putting off making the trip to the county clerk’s office to see about getting Patrick and I common-law married. In order for me to be enrolled on his health insurance, Patrick’s employers need some kind of governmentally sanctioned proof that we’re not just total liars. The process in Texas for proving you’re not a total liar is pretty simple: you tell the government that you’re not a total liar, sign a piece of paper, and they believe you. Suddenly, marriage!

This one little trip that I can’t seem to make is probably one of the most important things I could be doing just about now. And yet here I sit in my lacy black silk pajamas (Fancy Lady Obsessed With “Downton Abbey” So She Bought Some Nice Underthings Alert!), drinking coffee and fending off keyboard-fascinated cats instead of achieving the twofer of making my relationship more legitimate in the eyes of the government and ensuring that I have proper health coverage.

Though to be fair, I also buy extra underwear so that I can go a month without hitting the laundromat, so know that I am a world-class procrastinator of some renown. It’s not that I have apprehensions about becoming a wife. 

Right? Keep reading »

Feminist Parenting Sounds Really Freakin’ Hard

Jessica WakemanSeptember 7, 2011 //

One of the things that freaks me out the most about having kids someday is letting them choose their gender roles on their own. I am going to make a conscious and concerted effort to let my kids know they are loved and accepted however they choose to express themselves. But I’m also realistic and I know the outside world fits little kids much more neatly into “boy” and “girl” boxes. Just this weekend, I was at a toy store and rolled my eyes to the top of my head at puzzles targeted for girls’ and boys’: the girls’ puzzles were pink and had makeup shapes, while the boys’ puzzles were blue and had truck shapes. God, could it be any more stereotypical? If I’m acting that way now, childless and single, how am I going to be when I have an actual kid whom I am responsible for?

Probably a lot like the blogger at Feminist Breeder (aka Gina Crosley-Corcoran, formerly of the ’90s band Veruca Salt) who is committed to “gender-neutral parenting,” but was given a free vanity from her dad’s girlfriend. Now she’s agonizing about putting this super-uber-girly-feminine piece of furniture in her little daughter’s bedroom. Keep reading »

Girl Talk: On Being A Slob

Winona Dimeo-EdigerAugust 12, 2011 //

My name is Winona and I am a slob.

Growing up, my mom affectionately referred to my bedroom as “the pig sty,” and rightfully so: the clothing, books, art supplies and cereal bowls that covered the floor would often reach knee-height before I felt the urge to tidy up a bit. At some point my brothers began gathering up the trash from their cars and setting it my room instead of putting it in the garbage. Months would pass before I found the bags of Slurpee cups and cracked Green Day CDs.

When I moved into my college dorm, my roommate was also a slob, and within months the trek from our doorway to our beds had become eerily reminiscent of the scene in “Star Wars” where Luke Skywalker falls into the Death Star’s garbage compactor. Keep reading »

Not Acting Like “A Lady” Will Get You Dissed In Congress

Jessica WakemanJuly 21, 2011 //

Today from the “Seriously, Is Everyone In Congress Trapped In The 1950s?” file: a Congressman and a Congresswoman from Florida are unhappy with each other and he decided the best way to deal with this was to email her to tell her she is “not a lady.” Not a lady? Oh my stars!

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Democrat, was apparently stepping on some toes while talking about Medicare. Eh, it happens. But Rep. Allen West, a Tea Partier/Republican, pitched a fit. Naturally, as you do in situations like this, he fired off an email with the subject line “Unprofessional and Inappropriate Sophomoric Behavior from Wasserman-Schultz” to former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and a whole bunch of other people. Let’s see what he had to say! Keep reading »

Conservative Women To Honor “Gentlemen” On Campus This March

Jessica WakemanMarch 1, 2011 //

It’s Women’s History Month, sisters, but you wouldn’t know it based on one women’s group’s plans. The Network of Enlightened Women, a conservative group, is hosting its annual Gentleman’s Showcase on college campuses during the month of March. The Gentleman’s Showcase seeks to honor young men who “behave like gentlemen” based on a set of criteria — both general and specific — explained on NEW’s web site. Young men have been nominated in the past by women because they carried groceries, shoveled snow, opened doors and other so-called “gentlemanly” behavior. There is no prize, per se, but the accolades of conservative women everywhere!

While I don’t know why NEW has to co-opt Women’s History Month for their Gentleman’s Showcase, nor do I agree that traditional gender roles should be enforced on anyone, I don’t inherently think the idea of positively acknowledging “nice guys” on college campuses is a terrible idea. Keep reading »

Girl Talk: We’re All In This Sand Box Together

Ami AngelowiczFebruary 22, 2011 //

My boyfriend and I lay in his childhood bedroom, surrounded by all of his favorite stuff from high school. We were almost 30.

“I don’t feel the same way about you as you do about me,” he said.

I rolled over and started to cry silently while staring at his trophy collection. This was our third disagreement in six months as a couple. Keep reading »

Girl Talk: My Newfound Respect For Chivalry

Jessica WakemanJanuary 31, 2011 //

My freshman year of college, I went on a date with a guy to a fancy restaurant in Manhattan. It was the kind of place with a white tablecloth, where a busboy scraped the crumbs off the table with a comb once your plates were removed and the maitre’d pulled out women’s chairs for them. That’s where I made my big statement: the maitre’d pulled out a chair for me and I walked around to the other chair, pulled it out for myself and sat down. I wasn’t just being rude; I thought I was making a point about how I — and by extension all women — didn’t need to be treated with chivalry. Keep reading »

Girl Talk: I’m A Feminist, But I Think I Want To Date A More Traditional Dude

Jessica WakemanJanuary 28, 2011 //

One of the defining tensions in my life has always been reconciling my feminist political beliefs, my desire for a respectful and egalitarian relationship, and my attraction to more traditional alpha males. I passionately believe in women’s equality, in reproductive rights, and in equal pay for equal work. And I want to be in a loving, intimate, balanced relationship where everyone makes a contribution, whatever that might be. So why do those things seem so hard to reconcile with my desire to feel looked after and taken care of? Keep reading »

Giada De Laurentiis Is A Traditional Wife

Amelia McDonell-ParryJanuary 10, 2011 //

“I think it can be hard for any man to sometimes be upstaged by his wife. So when I’m home, I work very hard to be Todd’s wife and Jade’s mother. I have no problem going back to those traditional roles. I try to be Giada, the young girl that he met 20 years ago and fell in love with. All men want to be treated like kings in a relationship, and I think if women don’t indulge that sometimes, their men are likely to stray and look for someone who can give that to them.”

– Giada De Laurentiis is into traditional gender roles in her marriage, so that her husband doesn’t feel overshadowed by her fame (as a celebrity chef). I think this is pretty lame, but to each their own. However, I would love to know what the hell Todddddd does on his end. How hard does he work to be Giada’s husband and Jade’s father, and what exactly does that entail? [Redbook via Huffington Post] Keep reading »

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