Edward
Bartender
- Messages
- 25,081
- Location
- London, UK
Carlisle Blues said:I will say I am happy to be a stay at home father, who cooks, cleans and faces my responsibilities. Naturally, my choice to stay home with my boy was predicated on the fact that I was fortunate to retire at a young age and am ready for expanding my life in many great ways. If I was susceptible to the influence of the aforementioned I can safely say that I would have a "WOMAN'" do the "womanly" chores and I would be dragging my knuckles on the ground and beating my chest at the appropriate times.
I too am instantly suspicious of anything which tends to paint things in stark black and white, "this is what men do, and this is what women do". A lot of that sort of stuff that I have encountered is, frankly, misogynist to the core. The argument that 'men have no clear idea of their place in this new world' I remain suspicious of... well, not so much that there is confusion of male identity (there often is), but the notion that there is some sort of standard type of masculinity to which we all must adhere, and the frequent associated assumption that the problem is feminism, or at least that the world has changed, and not that men have failed to change with it. I find myself especially instantly suspicious of anyone who tries to peddle the myth that in order to be "successful" with women, a man should never be friends with a a woman. That said, looking at what this book has to offer in its contents list on Amazon, it does seem that it also has much to offer. There is much in it - table manners, for instance - which apologists for knuckle-dragging, modern man would tend to mock as being feminine, or even (sadly all too often) "gay". It seems to me that while it may not be for all of us, such a tome certainly has some sort of alternative to offer those who would otherwise develop the notion that being a man means being some sort of sports-worshipping neanderthal that dismisses the remotest trace of hygiene, health awareness, treating women well (or at least as anything other than 'the enemy' - the only thing uglier than "The Rules" is the male equivalent) as somehow effeminate or undesirable for 'real men'. In that, I'm sure it has much to recommend it.