My friend Jesse and I have recently started laughing at the idea that we have become housewives. She recently moved in with her very successful boyfriend, and while she works part time, he is the breadwinner and she does the cooking, cleaning, and other nonsense.
Since I've recently become self-employed, I have been picking up on the chores around the house, cooking, cleaning, and making lunch for the Schmoogie when he's working from home.
We looked at our respective situations Sunday night and cracked up. Two feminist women giving in to patriarchal structures where the man does the earning and the woman does the cleaning. We laughed. I'm still laughing, (on the inside), because it's actually kind of ironic.
Except it's not. On the one hand, Jesse does aspire to be a wife and mother (after she gets her master's degree). On the other hand, I aspire to one day make more than the Schmoogie and let him be a househusband if he is so inclined (otherwise, we'll just hire people to do all that stuff for us). And yet, I wouldn't say that I am more of a feminist than she is. And I certainly wouldn't say that, based on our goals, one of us is going to be more fulfilled in reaching them. We have different goals (and, despite our shared birthday, and the fact that we are so remarkably similiar), and will be made happy by different things. Go figure. By pursuing our own dreams (which are separate from the dreams impressed upon us by patriarchal structures that lots of people like to blame for the desires of women), we will find fulfillment. Go figure.
Now, you read this article from Pursuit of Harpyness while I go make some baked goods.
Since I've recently become self-employed, I have been picking up on the chores around the house, cooking, cleaning, and making lunch for the Schmoogie when he's working from home.
We looked at our respective situations Sunday night and cracked up. Two feminist women giving in to patriarchal structures where the man does the earning and the woman does the cleaning. We laughed. I'm still laughing, (on the inside), because it's actually kind of ironic.
Except it's not. On the one hand, Jesse does aspire to be a wife and mother (after she gets her master's degree). On the other hand, I aspire to one day make more than the Schmoogie and let him be a househusband if he is so inclined (otherwise, we'll just hire people to do all that stuff for us). And yet, I wouldn't say that I am more of a feminist than she is. And I certainly wouldn't say that, based on our goals, one of us is going to be more fulfilled in reaching them. We have different goals (and, despite our shared birthday, and the fact that we are so remarkably similiar), and will be made happy by different things. Go figure. By pursuing our own dreams (which are separate from the dreams impressed upon us by patriarchal structures that lots of people like to blame for the desires of women), we will find fulfillment. Go figure.
Now, you read this article from Pursuit of Harpyness while I go make some baked goods.
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