Lets be honest; the media have been pretty rough on men. With characters like Al Bundy from Married with Children and Homer Simpson, its no wonder people still think men are good for little more than bar-b-queing and reclining in front of the TV. The 70s are long gone, much as is the idea of the nuclear Family, consisting of the bread-winning father and the stay-at-home mom who is content to sew, clean and care for the children. This is the twenty-first century and perhaps sadly, those days are gone.
While times have changed, so have men changed to match the times. Not to bore readers too much with data, but a 2002 study from the University of Michigan showed that men are performing 33 percent more housework now than they did in 1965 up from 12 hours to 17 hours per week. The study also shows that women still do the lions share of the housework, but what the study didnt reflect is what the men are doing when they arent doing their 17 hours of housework.
So le ts break down the numbers. Seventeen hours a week divided evenly by seven days, equals almost two and a half hours of housework per day. Assuming the average person gets home by 5:30 p.m. during the week, they wouldnt stop doing housework until 8 p.m. In the meantime, theres dinner to cook, children to educate, feed, bathe and read to, animals that need caring for and any little extras that need attention.
But were not done yet; on the weekend, there are vehicles to clean and maintain, lawns to care for, time-consuming home maintenance that requires attention, children to cart back and forth to various sporting and school events, errands to catch up on it never ends.
Its obvious that both parents in American households are extremely busy, but I think its also obvious that either the numbers are skewed, or we need to reevaluate how we portray todays Family man. Clearly, todays American lifestyle requires total buy-in from both men and women in order for it to wo rk. There is no room for slackers.
So commercials and sitcoms that portray the average man as a football watching beer-chugger who pays little attention to his perfectly made-up wife while she slaves over floor grime, are nothing more than an ill attempt at humor and unappreciated by a growing body of men everywhere. Theyre about as funny as reel after reel of men getting hit in the groin by piata targeting youngsters with baseball bats. Its only funny if you cant relate.
Much more realistic would be variety shows and commercials with parents scrambling around the house at night trying to get things done without feeling guilty about being bad parents. They would cook, clean, catch up on work that didnt get done at the office, spend a few luxurious moments in the shower (alone), take care of the children and finally plop into bed around 10 p.m. too exhausted to care about the marital needs of their spouse.
Now thats reality television!
Chris Souther is a Technical and Corporate Writer and Trainer in the Atlanta area. When hes not working or chasing after his son, you can usually find him battling mosquitoes and drainage problems in his backyard. He also likes to fly-fish. For more information, you can view his not-oft-updated website at: http://www.mindspring.com/~csouther
Author:: Chris Souther
Keywords:: modern men, Males, Family, Parenting, two income,
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