RebelDad

Posted on 17. Feb, 2004 by Brian Reid in General

Posted (almost) without comment. Here’s a passage from The Mommy Myth by Susan Douglas and Meredith Michaels. The book’s thesis is that women have been brainwashed into thinking that they must be intense, loving parents 24 hours a day or risk being a failure as a woman. This bit is an aside:

“Meanwhile, there are an estimated two million fathers who stay at home with young children while the mother is the breadwinner. But look at the on-line moniker they get: SAHDs (maybe they should be SAHPs — stay-at-home pops). If you visit one of the few SAHD Web sites, you’ll see that these sites lack the chutzpah of the SAHM. In fact, one of the Web sites is called Slowlane.com, which simultaneously takes a swipe at dad’s lifestyle choices, his sex drive and his mental capacities. Here you will discover almost immediately that “SAHDs’ risk of death from heart disease is 82 percent higher than that of men who work outside the home.” Hmmm — what lesson should we take from this?”

The authors aren’t denegrating dads, they’re just pointing out that our P.R. leaves something to be desired. I hope Rebel Dad isn’t chutzpah-deficient …