Dear Friend and Reader,
Did you ever hear that phrase, “a woman’s work is never done?” It’s part of an English proverb, and it’s a pretty depressing thought, harking back to times when heterosexual gender roles were far more rigid (I’m talking about the Western world here) and wives and mothers were expected to manage all the household and child rearing duties. Most of our grandfathers had no idea how to change a diaper.
Some places find the shift towards equal gender roles to be harrowing: in Ireland, for example, the switch to modernity was more like ripping off a band-aid than the waves and swells we experienced in the US. This quick switch has left a lot of young men on unsure footing; they lost the macho, breadwinning, “get your father his slippers, he’s had a long day” role that so many grew up with. And they’re killing themselves over it.
On our side of the pond, though, men have had a little more time to stew on the low burner. I have two degrees in gender studies, so I’m trained to fight the inequality in favor of a 50-50 partnership. Part of the reason I love being gay so much is because the roles aren’t prescribed; things tend to parcel out based on who you are, what you’re good at, what you absolutely hate doing: not the sex you were born with.