New Trailer for Stellar Dad Movie
Posted on 02. Mar, 2010 by Brian Reid.
If you’ve been following RebelDad for a while, you know that I’ve been waiting with anticipation for a documentary film on dads from Dana Glazer called the Evolution of Dad. It’s slated to open on Father’s Day this year, and Dana just put up a new trailer for the film. Take 3 minutes out of your day, take a look, and be affirmed.
(My favorite line? “Fatherhood is growing up.”)
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The Foolishness of David Brooks
Posted on 25. Feb, 2010 by Brian Reid.
I’m a week late on this, but over at the New York Times, columnists Gail Collins and David Brooks had an interesting debate about the future of men, given the ugly place we’re in right now, economy-wise. Collins makes a wonderful and compelling argument that perhaps we’d be better off if more guys were more willing to accept the mantle of at-home dad, thereby allowing their higher-earning spouse to go out and maximize her earning potential. (I realize this is a dangerous idea to get behind, because I don’t agree with the converse: that low-earning women should automatically default to the homemaker role. But still …)
Here is how Collins lays it out:
I think they should also be encouraged to stay home with the kids. In fact, we should celebrate it. In the grand sweep of American lifestyle choices, stay-at-home fatherhood is possibly the only one that doesn’t get eulogized in our popular culture.
Brooks on the other hand, a smart guy who has some of the most valuable real-estate in all of American, says that can’t work because of “evolutionary psychology, which suggests that women are just more nurturing.” Look, I love evoluationary psychology. I think it’s fascinating and thought-provoking. And I think that it does a piss-poor job of describing or explaining modern society. Swap the logic around, and women should be staying home in greater numbers and staying the heck out of boardrooms. Clearly, that’s not happening (thank goodness). Here’s his money quote:
In theory, I agree with you. Men should be staying home more. But I do think for many working-class men, we will find ourselves running into some pretty stiff headwinds. I come back to evolutionary psychology, which suggests that women are just more nurturing. … So I wonder how many former construction workers are really going to be willing to stay home, even if I suspect they would find it surprisingly rewarding.
The answer to Brook’s rhetorical question is simple: there are a lot of former construction workers who are “really” willing to stay home (I know some of them). What keeps those guys from taking the plunge has a lot more to do about outdated stereotypes (perpetuated by Brooks) than it does with evolutionary psychology.
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NASCAR and the Down Side of Gender Equity
Posted on 24. Feb, 2010 by Brian Reid.
It seems like just yesterday that I was lamenting the continued discrimination against moms and would-be moms, warning that social forces that punished women for having children (or even looking like, maybe, someday, they might have children) would eventually come around and punish guys for the same thing.
Not, via the Wall Street Journal, comes the news that people are assuming that high profile men such as NASCAR’s Jimmy Johnson and tennis’ Roger Federer will get knocked down a peg or two by their impending paternity. The blog post by Sue Shellebarger has a telling headline: “Johnson, Federer and the New Dad Stereotype.” Kudos to the WSJ blog folks for the headline. The idea that parents suddenly lose their mind (or their career drive) when they have children is a pervasive and generally wrong stance.
While I suppose you could cheer that dads are slowly being held to a similar standard as moms, I’m not sure that’s the kind of gender equity we need. Maybe we should move in the other direction, and just start treating moms in the workplace the way we treat dads.
(As usual, the WSJ comments are pretty interesting on this one.)