Note to British Vogue: We Have No Desire to Return to the '50s
Posted on 23. Oct, 2008 by Brian Reid in General
Thanks to my international connections and good fortune relating to my decision to go to my 15-year high school reunion (thanks Louise!) , a copy of an article from the November article of British Vogue has come to my attention. (It is not, sadly, available online. Not yet, anyway.) It is titled “How To Be a Good Wife,” and it is a musing on whether the old days of man-as-lord-of-his-castle were actually good-old-days. Why this is a question that requires musing is beyond me.
The conclusion backs away from the dangerous full-on endorsement of a household in which everyone caters to dad’s every whim, but not far enough. It’s bad enough we have to hear this pining-for-the’50s crap from Laura Schlessinger and Caitlin Flanagan. Can everyone else give it a rest. I like having an equal as a wife, and I like getting my hands dirty with the kids.
Melissa LaMunyon
24. Oct, 2008
As a women enjoying a career with a supportive half time STAD—THANK YOU. God, the eagerness of our society to return to the misogynistic 50’s mentality is *frightening*.
Kelly M. Bray
03. Nov, 2008
Geez your only 33? When I was a SAHD with kids your age I was 45. God I feel old, must be those little rascals running me in circles!
Tali
10. Nov, 2008
This reminds me of a recipe I recently found in my grandmother’s cookbook from the 50’s. It has a recipe for cookies called – wait for it – “Husband Keepers”. As if he only stuck around for baked goods.
This same silliness was also seen in “freedom fries,” but that’s another blog altogether.
giuseppe
11. Nov, 2008
I agree with you completely.
It would also be nice if the mom’s I see at the playground everywhere would stop banishing me to the opposite corner, thereby denying me any communication with the world of grwn-ups.
I rarely see other dads with kids, and I am often treated like weirdo.
My point is we are more in the fities than we care to admit, and instead of longing for a return, we should all snap out of it.
Great blog, by the way. So far, its the only stay at home dad thing I’ve ever found online that didn’t make me feel foolish about it.
Wiki
22. Nov, 2008
Online presence