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| My pies don't look like this. Pie by Bob. |
Mentally I'm scrolling through all the couples in my book group Rolodex (remember those?) to see if I can find a "traditional" male. It's not enough to say that my own husband is not afraid to stop and ask someone for directions (while I cringe) and has all our important dates at the tip of his tongue ( I do remember his birthday, but because he was born on a distinctive date: Friday the 13th - can't quite recall what year). Just about everyone I know has a husband capable and often willing to do cooking and other housework. No one complains about channel-surfing or any of those other alleged traits that I can't even remember at the moment. At this moment, I am at work and my husband is doing the laundry. It was all I could do to sneak in and change the bed linens.
That doesn't mean I haven't seen traditional types, but there simply aren't many in my circle. And I'm not a young person.
This prompts me to rise to the defense of men in general and not forward Man Jokes that crop up in emails or on Facebook. You know the ones, the ones that are like Blonde Jokes - perpetuating an unfair stereotype. Stereotypes that don't even line up with my own dad, born over 100 years ago.
Blondes can forward Blonde Jokes if they want. If men can write some funny Man Jokes, they can share them among themselves, but I'll be no party to them. They just don't speak to my experience. People just aren't that simple. We're all nuanced.
I get that, despite decades of women's liberation fol-de-rol, men are still in power. They're getting nervous about it, for sure, and the pendulum has to swing back and forth before it comes to rest in the middle, but they still have the majority of power. Ridicule is a potent weapon the powerless wield against those above them. I just think it's time to put that WMD aside. Use it surgically on a specific individual instead. Don't use it to further divide us.
