"But the baggage of what men are "supposed to" do is
equally odious and I was trying to bring that up (such as bringing up the
issue of custody/child support)."
We are all socialized in our society and it starts at birth and continues on
in life, school, tv, magazines etc. Each gender has to give up something to
maintain that socialization. Men aren't allowed to have feelings, women
aren't allowed to be too smart. The baggage that men are "supposed to" do
may be equally odious but their rewards are much greater. You bring up the
issue of custody/child support, that men should have equal rights there, but
what rights are men going equalize? In reality, from the time a child is
born, the woman usually has primary care for it. Often the father goes out
without ever needing to worry about childcare because the mother is at home,
where the mother usually has to ask the father to babysit. A mother is
usually the one to take a day off of work because a child is ill, not the
father, yet when the relationship breaks up he should take custody? That
doesn't make a lot of sense to me. It would if child rearing and
responsibility were equally shared prior to the breakup.
We live in a patriarchal society meaning that males are dominant. That is
not being a "downtrodden soul" its being aware of the world around me. Why
wear blinders and pretend it isn't like that. and I am far from being
downtrodden. Also saying that our society is patriarchal doesn't say that
all men are bad. We were all born into an unequal society. Who's
responsibility is it to change it? I would think both.
I have 2 adult sons that were raised to see what is around them. I have
tried to raise my daughter to have a good sense of who she is. When she
started kindergarten, she came home and asked why were boys treated special
at school and so the cycle continues.
Lou
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