International Womens Day

Off-Topic Chat
1

I consider my self a feminist (in as much as a man can). In our house there are no clearly defined gender roles, and as we both work full time I always ensure that I do my fair share of household chores as I believe its important that my children (one of each gender) are presented with a good role model.

I realise that equality is a far more complex issue than a man being prepared to do laundry and cleaning and I have a great deal of empathy for the struggle that women have had throughout history to gain equality.

I have welcomed the recent increased profile of female erotica and whole heartedly endorse females taking on traditional male aspects and making them their own. When my daughter openly objectifies Benedict Cumberbatch as being "well bey" and talks about "shipping" him with John Watson I think good on you. I completely embrace the idea of a woman objectifying a man as a purely physical object, in my mind thats a step towards gender equality.

For me International Womens Day (at least in Britain) where there is a no male exclusion policy seems a step in the wrong direction. I live in a multicultural area so I obviously endorse female only sessions of swimming or other activities where faith is an issue, but fail to see why events such as this should have gender bias.

To mark the celebration my local borough of London is hosting a free female only event which seems to have a heavy bias on craft stalls and yoga. There is to be some talks by inspirational speakers but I fail to see why I or my teenage son should not be allowed to listen. Surely such an event would be beneficial for males? Im a white man in Britain but I think its important for my children to be aware of the struggles of the Jewish race so have taken them to the Holocaust Exhibition. I'm a child of the seventies who grew up in Essex, I have seen first hand casual and violent acts towards ethnic minorities which I hope my children will never witness yet I still have taken them to Mosques and watched films with then discussing racism. Being taunted for being gay was still acceptable in the 80s and 90's with the age of consent not being lowered till 2000, I'm not a gay male but I can attend Pride and be allowed to recognise the sacrificies made by the gay community to gain any semblance of equality.

Again I realise that sexual discrimiantion and equality is complex and drawing parallels with other discrimination could be regarded trite.... but am I alone in thinking that a celebratory day should not be excusion based?

Having read many of the posts by female contributors who openly embrace sex on their terms they seem to me to be more feminist than some of opinions seen by guests on debate shows.

So fight my corner or just acquiesce?

Any way I'm off to clean the toilets and hang the washing out.

2

Yeah I also do the dishes, cooking, laundry sorting the kids etc but have yet to see my oh fix the washing machine or check/clean the cars.
I do agree with equality but with most issues we have to be careful not to strain the whole idea of why it is needed. Chores shouldn't be measured on a his/hers basis. Years ago these chores were a woman's because she was usually at home and not because men were lazy. Anyhow we do chores as and when they happen and not because one of us is better at it. It's just like any extra work, nobody wants to do it but it does need doing. You as a man shouldn't be made to feel that you have to do it because equality says you should but because it needs doing. The thought of who's job it is never enters my mind when I do chores. Sometimes though there are jobs I need to do and jobs my oh needs to do. More so because of ability rather than sexism.

3

I think I may have made my post so rambling that my point was lost.

The real issue is whether excluding men from an event such as International Womens Day is a step backwards in terms of equality.

Household chores I have no objection to, a steam cleaner was my christmas present.

4

In my opinion, it's definitely a step backwards and I totally agree with you. From my perspective, I believe that equality should be more about seeing people as people and not as their gender, and so I think that to exclude men from an event like this is wrong and detracts from any gender equality message to exclude people because of their gender.

5

It possibly could be a step backwards although at my golf club we still have an issue. General amongst the older gent. maybe there is still an issue with jobs and pay but the chores bit is very outdated because nowadays there are plenty of men who have the house husband roll and it's just common sense that that person male or female should take on the household chores.

6

As for international women's day my oh has one of those with her mates about once a month.