Friday, July 25, 2008 | 15 responses | Filed Under: Daily & Only Judith
Another fine rant brought to you by an emotional, blubbering, scrapbooking woman.
Not.
As a a matter of fact, I don't scrapbook.
At all.
Not that there's anything wrong with scrapbooking, it's just not a medium in which I excel. Much like sewing, ironing, and frying eggs; it's just one of those things that I don't do unless absolutely necessary. Therefore, the only sewing, ironing, and egg-frying that occurs in this house is done by my husband.
Because, unlike me, he actually can sew, iron, and fry an egg. And he can do it all rather well, if I do say so myself.
Ah… But the question here is, Can he Scrapbook?
While thumbing through this month's issue of Parenting magazine, I stumbled upon something rather disheartening lodged between the page number (29) and a poll on whether or not it's acceptable to re-gift a child's present (47% say Yes)…
Don't worry, it wasn't a scandalous picture of a woman breastfeeding or anything as terrible as all that *snicker*.
It was simply a picture of a man…
Who was crying.
And next to this weeping male, a simple definition:
fe-man \fe-man\ noun
The opposite of a he-man, he cries openly, compiles scrapbooks, and does other stuff that'd freak us out to see our husbands do.
A fe-man?
A fe-man?
Can I get a WTF? from the congregation please?
WTF who/what/why the fuck?
The universal interrogative particle.
I set the magazine in front of my egg-frying, button-sewing, iron-wielding husband; and poked the page a few times with my finger.
"Want me to get the matches or a pen?" he jokes.
"I haven't made up my mind yet, " I say in all seriousness, "Do you scrapbook?"
"Not that I know of. Do you?"
"Nope… And I'm expecting my penis to grow in any day now because of it."
feminism /as it pertains to Judith/
My belief that anyone, male or female, should be able to do anything without suffering the backlash of out-dated, ridiculous, dumbass, ignorant, "You should be in the kitchen…" gender connotations.
So, my dear Parenting editors, if you absolutely insist on sticking us all into one of those little demographic boxes lined up so prettily across your desks…
Maybe it's finally time to take a big leap into this century and replace the ones labeled "Stereotypes" with ones that say something along the lines of "Can't cut a straight line or Allergic to Glue" and "Enjoys Glitter".
Or you could just come on over to my house and tell my son that he "throws like a girl".
Whatever makes you feel better.
July 25, 2008
Exactly. Please tell me you will send a link for this to the editor? Please?
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July 25, 2008
LOL I am with you. I have been reading this book called "the mommy myth"…it talks about how magazines like that make women feel like they need to be super moms…or they perpetuate the so called "mommy wars"…maybe not enough women are reading now and they are trying to reach out to the dad community?
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July 25, 2008
More trendy stereotyping bullshit to add to the damn Webster's …… Great!!
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July 26, 2008
WTF!
Guess I missed that picture.
I'll give you an Amen, A Hallelujah and pass you the matches so you can burn it. That's ridiculous.
Reminds me of something that happened this past week in Aggieland…
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July 26, 2008
I'm married to a Marine, a big strong hulky Marine who let me tell you can sew like nobodys business. I couldnt tell you how to plug the damn thing in. When we bought the thing the woman asked me if I was excited, I just looked at her and said its not for me and pointed at him, all while he was picking out just the right shade of blue to take in his uniform pants. Please if he wants to do some of the domestic duties who am I to stop him. The same goes for showing some emotions.
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July 27, 2008
You ARE going to send them the link, right?
The Man can sew and iron and fry eggs WAY better than I can.
I can totally take him on the scrapbooking though.
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July 28, 2008
Enter Your Comment
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July 28, 2008
Well, that didn't work. I was actually going to write a comment, if only to say I agree with the first commenter. You should send this blog entry to the editor. Ugh…
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July 28, 2008
I sincerely hope that you did send this to the editors! That kind labeling is awful! I hope they break their nails.
*grumble, grumble*
BTW, my husband's fried eggs are far better than my own and he knows how to iron better than I do. I'll be damned if that takes away from his masculinity any more than my knowing how to change a tire takes away from my femininity
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July 28, 2008
I can't scrapbook either.
lol @ the sporadically growing penis.
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July 29, 2008
I love your definition! I can totally see it on a t-shirt. But as a feminist myself, I'd need one with a plunging neckline.
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July 29, 2008
OMG and WTF and all the other three-letter words I can think of!! This is horrifying, and I certainly hope you send it to Parents. Preferably as a "Letter to the Editor." This is so much worse than when (although precisely explains why) Son's teachers taunted one of his preschool buddies for "screaming like a girl" and threatened to change his name to a girl's name if he didn't stop. Awful. Parents should be ashamed.
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July 29, 2008
I'll give you a WTF and second it with a HUH??? Why do we have to label everything?? 'll be sharing this with the girls at the office tomorrow.
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July 29, 2008
Sometimes in their attempt to be funny/snarky/hip/cool/with it . . . magazines/TV shows/MOVIES/celebrities just sound DUMB.
Use your brains. That's why they're in our heads, people.
Excellent post . . .
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July 30, 2008
While I totally agree - I do have to admit that feman will now be entering my vernacular! Just subscribed about an hour ago and working my way through the archieves! Thanks for checking out my blog as well. My husband - Jason at gorillasushi - said that a comment by THE Judith Shakespeare should taken as a big complement. Maybe he's just fishing for a fancy dinner….
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