New Age?

Wow, It's been almost a year since I wrote something....sorry to my 2 followers.


Recently, my wife and I have been watching the show 'Mad Men'. It is a great show if you haven't seen it. It is set in the late 50's and the 60's. It really shows how gender roles in our society were at the time. Women were expected to cook and clean and take care of the children, and the men went to work to make the money. Now, this attitude has changed, or has it? As many of you know, I enjoy cooking. I started from barely being able to cook toast to being able to put major meals on the table. I have never been very good at baking however, and I don't like not being able to do something. My wife loves Chocolate meringue pie. Tonight, I decided it was time to learn. I got the ingredients, and made a pie. I must say, it was wonderful and it made my wife very happy. I then made the mistake of putting a picture on facebook. This is where the gender role discussion happens. I have two friends that questioned my "manhood." I know they were just messing around, but it was a little offensive and it made me think......I thought society was past this. There was a movement that put women in the workplace and made them equal in society. The roles are not as they used to be, or are they? In our house, my wife is the primary bread winner. I am in school (not much longer now) and she works to support us. I do the cooking in the family. If we host company, I cook. Romantic dinner, I cook. I would consider myself a great cook. The contention tonight seemed to be this, if it was not done on the grill, the a man shouldn't be doing it. Did I get that right? Believe me, I can grill just fine. probably better than most people. So, does cooking in the kitchen make me less of a man? My other friend said something about showing him how to clean house and do the dishes (I would've gotten the exact quote, but apparently he deleted the comment). So what has changed? Women now work in the workplace. So, am I to believe that the progress that we have made on gender roles is that women are not only expected to bring home a paycheck, but also cook, clean, and take care of the kids? Now, I know my friends were just joking, but there is always some truth in a joke. The big reason to make a pie tonight was to make my wife happy. I live by the motto, "Happy wife, happy life." So, maybe we need to reexamine how we see gender roles in our society. I believe that cooking for my wife makes me more of a man, I will take your man card now.

Until next time.....