As I was about to say, before the ether snatched away my post ... I found the Scholar and Feminist Online issue this summer particularly interesting because it deals with the subject of 21st century family life through the lens of an ally of the at-home father, not the at-home dad himself (unlike most of the stories I post here, which -- usually -- struggle to get our perspective).

Noteworthy is this panel discussion on "Doing it All". In it, there are some moments of great wisdom and some moment of great (and sometimes troubling) truth about the way young, progressive women see men. Here's some of the great wisdom (from Carrie Fernandez, the senior communications manager for the American Foundation for the Blind):

What's more, is that none of these [family friendly] policies mean anything in the long run until we change the culture and gender stereotypes ingrained in our culture to make those policies really mean something for most families.

And a troubling question posted by an audience member:

And the simple fact is that most 30-year-old men don't know how to properly do the pan. And they don't realize that just having it sit in the sink overnight and saying they are going to do it in the morning is [not] an adequate answer.

Far be it from me to defend all 30-year-old men, but I'm fairly certain we can wash dishes (I'm a soak-in-the-sink kind of guy, but that's laziness, not inability. It really *is* easier to clean in the morning). I know that men still lag behind women in terms of household work, but the gap is closing. But there was little acknowledgement of that. Indeed, the panelists seemed to think we'd have to wait until the next generation of boy grew up before men could get the whole dish-washing thing.

The general assumption that we can't do housework impacts not only society's ability to take men seriously as dish washers, but as childrearers, too. The audience for this discussion looked to be a hip crowd that cared about gender equity, but no one seemed willing to question the old stereotype about men being doofuses when it comes to household tasks.

OK. That's it for the serious posts this week ... I'll be much more down to earth in tomorrow's post.