Plant Daddy
In honour of Father’s Day, I give you this great article that appeared in Elle of all places back on Mother’s Day. It’s about how people won’t just allow the person to be a child-free woman. She is called “a mother of words” or asked if she has “fur babies” or is a “plant mommy.”
She touches on it but doesn’t delve deep into the other side of this story. Can you imagine someone asking the new guy at the office if he has fur babies? Or is a plant daddy? No, you can’t because it doesn’t happen. Men may be asked if they have kids, but no one then spends time trying to point out to them that Father’s Day is for them because they give birth to new ideas.
Unless the person calls their pet their fur baby (something I wholeheartedly endorse and the way I think of Beorn), please do not call animals in their house their fur baby. Let us enjoy what men worldwide get to enjoy; a quiet acceptance of their choices and circumstances, as if they are the captain of their life ship.
3 comments
Plant daddy. Stealing this and spreading fat and wide because I absolutely love.
But in all seriousness, you highlight a problem that we really need to address, which is this dichotomy about how we value men and women. A man’s worth is not defined by having children (though it does give them bonus points). A woman’s, however, is strongly linked. And this value permeates throughout society, defining career choices (there’s a severe lack of men in teaching and care-focused roles), family structure (families with women in breadwinning positions still take on the majority of housework and will prioritize their partner’s career), and general life direction.
There are so many articles finally emerging about how men in our society are not well. This toxic mindset is at the root of it.
Love it! I solved this problem by not having pets or plants 😂
Oh, that’s such a good article! Argh. “Mother of words” is horrible! It is so infuriating to feel that women’s lives are not valued unless they “mother” somehow. Yet a man does not feel that same pressure. (They may feel some – but ultimately, not the same.) Mother’s Day or Father’s Day are absolutely not for people who don’t “mother” or “father.”
I love love LOVE your conclusion:
“Let us enjoy what men worldwide get to enjoy; a quiet acceptance of their choices and circumstances, as if they are the captain of their life ship.”