Are they bitchier?

Let me cut to the point and add a disclaimer, if I may, before you begin to read this post. I am not trying to be a feminist, a human rights activist, or a gender-equality opportunist; a humorist, yes maybe that. That's what I am trying to be.

Incessant channel flipping the other night made me pause on one television show - Desperate Housewives. I used to watch the show at one point, but like most other shows that get stretched over seasons (Grey's Anatomy-another example), Desperate Housewives got tedious, at least for me. But watching the rerun of one of the episodes got me thinking about the preconceived notions attached to housewives or women in general. Here is the deal: Society is harsher on women. Period. Again, read my disclaimer before you ascertain the direction of this post. So, where was I? As a woman, if you aspire to have a career, you're derided for being an ambitious, self-centered home wrecker; but, if you decide to be a homemaker, you're ridiculed, misrepresented and called an unconfident dimwit. Hell, you have quite a few reality shows too based on housewives (Real Housewives of Orange County, New York, New Jersey, and so forth). It’s a lose-lose situation.

See, my mantra is equality, so I don’t think it’s fair to deprive men of microscopic surveillance when we take an unreasonable amount of time to categorize women. Right? According to one of the radio stations, the number of men staying at home and taking care of the family is twice than the number from two years ago. I say kudos to them but how come there is no television show on them? I have always wondered what it would be like to see househusbands on the idiot box. I mean, media represents the stereotypes best.

If working women are portrayed as aggressive hounds when they try to prove themselves equal to their male counterparts by choosing the path of intellectuality over sexuality in their workplace, then shouldn’t househusbands be typecast as a bitchier version of their female equivalents? Homemakers with testosterone and aprons? After all, they are trying to fit in a female dominated world, right? Traditionally, men didn’t belong in the nurturing world, so to prove their competence, will they do whatever it takes to succeed? Will they be folks who can nag, bicker, and complain more than five emotional women put together? Throw tantrums and turn the house upside down for reasons unknown? Will they be categorized and chastised, like housewives, and asked to prove their mettle, over and over again, like working women? I don't know why, but even without statistical data and facts, I have a sense of how it'll all pan out.

More until next time.
Xoxo

Copyright © 07.23.2009

"An ideal wife is any woman who has an ideal husband"- Booth Tarkington

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