OH! The Stupidity!

A couple of articles have shown up on Broadsheet (Salon) this week that are really getting me steamed! One involves the minority of women who are angry that their husbands don't do enough with the kids or around the house. The other involves a small group of women who decided to become single mothers in their 40's. Both of these articles and the comments to them are interpreting these "trends" as women being horrible harpies who think men are unnecessary, evil, stupid, lazy, etc. It's always the woman's fault. It's also always feminism's fault. Ugh!

In the first case, sometimes it is the woman's fault. Other times, it's the man's fault. In some cases, it's probably both the woman's and the man's fault. So, these people just need to get over it.

In the case of the second article, the response really chaps my hide. Not having a biological father in the house doesn't mean you hate men or think men are unnecessary. Not dating when you're a single mother doesn't mean that either. Obviously, as mentioned in the original article, there are all kinds of reasons that women end up in these situations and all sorts of reasons that they choose to stay in them. None of the women interviewed seem to hate men. Some talk about having their fathers, brothers, and male friends help with the male role model thing. Obviously, they don't think men are unnecessary or evil. But none of that matters to the Broadsheet "writers" or their audience. Women are just bitches!

Why am I so touchy on this? I don't have kids and never will. Well, there was a time in my life when I thought often of having a wife and a mini-Mel or two. As a lesbian, my options are a bit limited.

My ideal option, in my mind, was to ask one of my friends to be the dad (not the donor). Obviously, I'm not asking that he sleep with my woman so there'd be a turkey baster involved in conception. I even imaged the asking part and the uproarious laughter that would greet the original question. I think one or two would say yes. Maybe one or two would decline for any number of reasons. But my guy friends are amazing men and those who have children (biological or otherwise) are amazing dads. My kid would be very lucky indeed.

Let's say they all said no. There'd be no man in the house and no biological father around. But my kid (adopted or otherwise) would still be lucky to be surrounded by great men and women. (I'd definitely move back to Louisiana if I were going to do the kid thing.)

He or she would have a lot of fun climbing on Uncle Rob or chasing Uncle Drew around or getting thrown around by Uncle Don. Aunts Silverfox and Stacey could keep me from going nuts while mocking me mercilessly (the byatches). My brothers and sisters would take their revenge by spoiling my kid and teaching him or her annoying habits and cheesy jokes.

I'm more than capable of teaching him or her about the important things in life: sports (at least some of them), science fiction, D&D, great and not-so-great film, cooking and how to pick up women without really trying. My friends could help teach him or her the other important things: Rock Band, WoW, Magic, frying random edibles, Laser Tag, RPG, managing to be a responsible adult and a big kid all at once, etc. My sisters and/or wife can teach her about being girly if that's absolutely necessary. Someone (not me) could talk to my son about his winky and its needs. Hell, someone (not me) could talk to my daughter about her hoohoo and its needs. My kid would not be suffering in the absence of a man in the house.

And I am not a man-hating bitch who thinks the male half of the species can go get frelled. So, screw those jackasses!