'Cute Butts and Housework'

Posted on 21. Nov, 2006 by rebel in General

I’m late to the party — Dadspoint and Feministing have already noted it — but I wanted to draw your attention to a piece in the NYTimes Magazine on Sunday. It’s a thought-provoking piece, largely on the new (historically speaking) trend of men and women marrying those with similar earning power, and the consequences thereof. But in the last paragraph, the author, Annie Murphy Paul, lets loose with one of the more wonderful passages I’ve seen in a while:

Of course, men and women don’t choose each other on the basis of education and income alone. Putting love aside, as men’s and women’s roles continue to shift, other standards for selecting a partner may come to the fore. Indeed, the sociologist Julie Press recently offered what she called “a gynocentric theory of assortative mating,” moving the focus from what men now desire in a marriage partner to the evolving preferences of women. What would-be wives may be seeking now, she proposed in The Journal of Marriage and Family, is “cute butts and housework” — that is, a man with an appealing physique and a willingness to wash dishes. Could this be a feminist slogan for our time?

Hey, it works for me …