Mommies and Daddies

So, going back to my gender role topic from the other day (been thinking about this stuff more lately, as I've been hanging a lot with my friend who studies stuff in this general ballpark).

Here's one facet of social expectation that I find particularly annoying: babies.

There's this expectation out there that somehow moms have more responsibilities (and rights) viz a viz babies than dads do.

This is just stupid, stupid bullshit.

If you have a kid, you're on the hook for 20+ years, mom or dad, male or female, and if you want to be a good parent, you pretty much have to make your kids your top priority. Policy wise, there are some important issues to consider here. Paid family leave: should moms and dads be equally eligible? And, of course, who is more likely to get custody if a marriage dissolves?

And within the home, moms and dads should share equally in the work of child rearing (changing diapers, picking up toys, etc), as well as in general housework. And, if a couple chooses to have one parent stay home instead of both working, moms and dads should feel equally comfortable or uncomfortable following that path.

This stuff would seem to me to be patently obvious, and yet inequities in all of these areas persist, based on some antiquated notion about the sexes' innate fitness for certain activities.

I want to see more stay-at-home dads! I want to see men wiping asses and playing doll babies! I want to see women going to work all day and then coming home and watching a ball game so they can ignore their kids!

That is, IF you want to have kids at all. They're just little shit-covered narcissistic pains in the ass, if you ask me.