I don't use the word "Playboy" very often, which makes this a very special edition of Rebel Dad. Buzz McClain, a columnist for Playboy, had a must-read piece in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram over the weekend, arguing that Daddy Day Care deserves a "timeout." Like Hogan Hilling's opinion piece last week, the word "stereotype" makes it into the headline. Buzz's bottom line: we ain't bumbling Mr. Moms.
I'll forgive Buzz's trashing of Daddy Day Care (as I've mentioned before, it didn't offend my sensibilities and was nearly empowering) -- Buzz has been way ahead of the curve on this one. He first mentioned the movie to me at a Christmas cocktail party, and he was ready to be upset. Buzz has waged an admirable one-man campaign to erase the term "Mr. Mom" from the collective unconscious, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.
Movie aside, Buzz makes an eloquent pitch for more at-home dads: "Ask an at-home dad if he would trade his lifestyle for his previous career-track one. I've yet to meet one who'd rather be in a gray cubicle than on a play date at the zoo." Not me.
The Star-Telegram, which helped launch Rebel Dad's pre-kid career, also has this story, which has everything Newsweek ignored. It also quotes one of my favorite sources on work/family/gender issues, American University School of Law prof Joan Williams, who lets loose with this comment: "A man who does stay home by choice is extremely secure in his own masculinity, his own sense of purpose and his own identity. I think they're men of steel." Go us!
And I keep claiming to be done with the Newsweek bit, but the paper has finally published letters to the editor. Not surprisingly, there's a lot of anger about the "She Works, He Doesn't" line. Also worth looking at: letters by Hogan Hilling and the founder of DC MetroDads, Peter Steinberg. And one truly asinine letter by a gentleman named Dan Rachelson, who is evidently not "extremely secure in his own masculinity, his own sense of purpose and his own identity," as Joan Williams would say. I hope Mr. Rachelson enjoys his high-paying life in the grey cubicle, and I'm glad I won't be bumping into him this afternoon on the playground (it's great playground weather today ...).
I'll forgive Buzz's trashing of Daddy Day Care (as I've mentioned before, it didn't offend my sensibilities and was nearly empowering) -- Buzz has been way ahead of the curve on this one. He first mentioned the movie to me at a Christmas cocktail party, and he was ready to be upset. Buzz has waged an admirable one-man campaign to erase the term "Mr. Mom" from the collective unconscious, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.
Movie aside, Buzz makes an eloquent pitch for more at-home dads: "Ask an at-home dad if he would trade his lifestyle for his previous career-track one. I've yet to meet one who'd rather be in a gray cubicle than on a play date at the zoo." Not me.
The Star-Telegram, which helped launch Rebel Dad's pre-kid career, also has this story, which has everything Newsweek ignored. It also quotes one of my favorite sources on work/family/gender issues, American University School of Law prof Joan Williams, who lets loose with this comment: "A man who does stay home by choice is extremely secure in his own masculinity, his own sense of purpose and his own identity. I think they're men of steel." Go us!
And I keep claiming to be done with the Newsweek bit, but the paper has finally published letters to the editor. Not surprisingly, there's a lot of anger about the "She Works, He Doesn't" line. Also worth looking at: letters by Hogan Hilling and the founder of DC MetroDads, Peter Steinberg. And one truly asinine letter by a gentleman named Dan Rachelson, who is evidently not "extremely secure in his own masculinity, his own sense of purpose and his own identity," as Joan Williams would say. I hope Mr. Rachelson enjoys his high-paying life in the grey cubicle, and I'm glad I won't be bumping into him this afternoon on the playground (it's great playground weather today ...).
posted by Rebel Dad at
10:45 AM
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