AMBER, 31, France – “Next Generation?” from No Country for Young Women on Vimeo.
Name: Amber
Age : 31
Nationality: American expat, living in France
Field : Fundraising
AMBER, 31, France – “Next Generation?” from No Country for Young Women on Vimeo.
Name: Amber
Age : 31
Nationality: American expat, living in France
Field : Fundraising
Men “afraid” of throwing up when changing diapers is a wonderful *unique-like-everybody* statement.
It’s so common, it really is a classic. I never heard a woman make such a statement, but many men, of various generations, claim it publicly, without any backlash.
It’s always stated and still accepted as a purely personal condition : “I just can’t do it”. The repetition shows us that’s it’s not personal at all, but really a socially accepted way of escaping a part of childcare.
It don’t seem to be an excuse working for women…
Ideology — here in the form of gendered repartition of tasks — is always expressed in this particular way :
it *feels* like it’s something coming directly from your own particular desire or will.
(And in fact, it is. Our desires and will are coming from the ideologies that built us. That’s why change is so slow.)
I would add that it’s sad to see dads trying to ignore that part of their baby’s life. Most babies love to have their diapers changed. They smile, they interact. It’s a very important, frequent part of *their* life.
Finally, I’m all for forcing fathers to do at least half of the childcare… aim even higher, because the perception of task-sharing is biased, as many studies have shown. And sadly, childcare sharing ratio drop dramatically for the second child, if I’m not mistaken