Ah, she sighs and thinks ‘in my next life, I want to be one of them’.
A what? What is she thinking? Give up hard fought-for and hard-won power, to have it bestowed by the power of gender?
Yes!
Trade what psychoanalysts have called a ‘veiled sex’ for a dangly bit and two gelatinous round things in a sack of skin.
Why?
They have more time to play. The world just ‘goes on’ for men. Women organise the social events of their joint life – if they have a partner. If they don’t have a partner, there is usually a sister/cousin/mother/aunt who keeps them connected to the family unit and keeps things happening.
At work, men sprout ideas like mushrooms and there’s usually (a female) office junior who will come along behind them and assist with the detail. Even if men do manual work, they usually come home from work to a community where there are women (or at least a woman) who does most of the cooking, cleaning, washing, ironing, filing/fucking etcetera (Those letters, when used as an acronym, form that evil word “WIFE”) .
This is not why I want to be a man in the next life. The reason is that men have more TIME. This is time that they use to “play”.
What do I mean by “play”? No, get your mind/s out of the gutter.
Time to read “tech-blogs”, build model toys, collect eclectic facts (factoids) in their heads. A man in a relationship, without children, usually spends more time luxuriating around the house – reading books, watching TV, playing computer games – than the female partner. She is usually organising shopping, social activities, doing extra work from home and other things.
Because of this work/leisure – brain down-time – differential, I would give up being a woman and become a man. I want to play too.
As is evident from the above: all the years of feminism and equal opportunity have not changed the ‘division of labour’ or ‘time spent doing domestic duties’.
There’s a long way to go.
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2 comments:
whoops see the pic comment for the comment on this topic... I get so easily confused... so many options for comment
I would say that there are some truths in what you say and after reading your next blog I couldn't help thinking that the way our society is structured has a big hand in the playing of men.
Thinking back to the fifties especially there were definite male and female roles. A Man would work and Women was a housewife. (Husband pleasing, ornamenting, umbilical cording, shopping, entertaining, washing, ironing, filing/fucking, etcetera - Sorry, I couldn't help adding a couple of extra concepts to your list(:D). I mean just look at the way it's even worded - "a Man WOULD work". According to the Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/would) would is "used in auxiliary function to express wish, desire, or intent". There is a big difference comparing this to was meaning "to have identity with". (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary)
A man would work and come home and his work was finished the moment he got home. A women was a housewife and would be a housewife in pretty much every way the above definition describes - give or take a little. A womens job was never finished and would never be finished because it was her being. A caterpillar's job never finishes until it is no longer a caterpillar. A flower is no longer a flower until it is no longer a flower.
Perhaps the role of women is slowly being redefined with the direction of society. But, yes, sadly, there is a long way to go before there is equality between men and women in the workplace, within society and at home.
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