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> A real solution would seek to push women out of automatically assuming that bearing and raising children is a vitally important life goal [...] If bearing an
by reedlaw 13y ago
> A real solution would seek to push women out of automatically assuming that bearing and raising children is a vitally important life goal [...]
If bearing and raising children is not a vitally important life goal I don't know what is. The failure to do so would literally spell the end of civilization. Perhaps this view accounts for birth rates declining below sustainable levels in developed nations.
> [...] and would seek to push men out of automatically assuming their role doesn't involve caring for kids.
Of course no father should assume this.
But I feel this entire argument is pushing for indistinguishability more than equality. There will never be indistinguishability between men and women. Equality doesn't mean eliminating all differences.
- gthrowaway 13y agoRead the comment again. Gender roles are pervasive, but are more obvious for women, who tend to get defined in terms of their wombs rather than any individual characteristics. Essentialists who hold traditional/conservative views don't really go much beyond that -- bearing and raising children is what women are for. Essentialists who hold progressive/liberal views try to hide this, but are still basically assuming that all women really want, deep-down inside, to be mothers above all other goals, so the discourse is all about how to do other things at the same time as that. And that's a problem regardless of who's doing it or why. A developed civilization can remain viable without needing every woman to be a baby factory first and foremost, so why do we still push that attitude from basically all sides? And although there probably always will be some life paths that are incompatible with having children, most of the ones that are incompatible today are not necessarily incompatible; they're only contingently incompatible as a consequence of how our society is structured (with its focus on career advancement and measuring one's worth in terms of titles and raw dollar values, and the resulting need to work insane hours). We could tear down all those assumptions, and have a society where everyone has the option of multiple ways to lead a fulfilling life, with raising children being one of those. But we don't do that, and even the popular incarnations of movements which claim to advocate for real equality of opportunity don't try.
- rmc 13y agoGender roles can be very harmful for some men. Gay men (sorta). Effeminate or camp men. Men who crossdress etc. We could tear down all those assumptions, and have a society where everyone has the option of multiple ways to lead a fulfilling life, with raising children being one of those. Yep, that's what feminists are doing, smashing the patriarchy. But we don't do that, and even the popular incarnations of movements which claim to advocate for real equality of opportunity don't try. Feminism is doing this.