Feminism Is For Everyone

Aug 23, 2008,12:30 AM

observations on marriage dynamics

So, there's a specific AT&T commercial about rollover minutes that keeps coming to mind whenever I think about feminism. You know, that milky minutes commercial. It makes me think about the dynamics of the male and female in a marriage. In this commercial I see the wife as the voice of reason while the husband undermines it by asking if his wife's sister is lactose-intolerant. Even though the husband is nonchalant about wasting minutes, his sons seem to respect him more in this situation than they respect their mother's viewpoint.

Anyway, I'm sure not all marriages are like this and that others would tell me not to waste my time, but I wanted to point out that it bothers me that girls must mature into adult women while boys can mature into adult boys. I've heard from many women--teachers, parents, my own mother--that "boys never grow up." It's like we have to grow up to demonstrate that we are just as good as men, but it doesn't matter because then they shove responsibility on our shoulders, act silly, and still get respect for it...at least as is illustrated in this commercial.

Speaking of marriage dynamics, I witnessed the marriage "blame game" while at work today. I was waiting for the husband to find his credit card and when he couldn't find it he blamed his wife, who replied that she had put it back in his wallet after she had used it earlier that week. He was so quick to blame. I don't know if he would have done that in the privacy of his own home; maybe it was because it happened in a public setting. But he found it...in his own wallet. It kind of made me wish that she had said, "I told you so."