Notes From the Patriarchy

Last weekend, I attended a going-away party at a suburban bar. On the outside window, they hung this helpful poster.

Clearly, this banner is somewhat disrespectful to women (so we can’t come to the bar ourselves if we want time to relax?)(guessing they weren’t thinking of gay couples, though you never know), but it is SO disrespectful to men. I feel like everywhere I go I see this idea of the man-child as though it were universal, but the men I spend time with in real life actually know how to take care of themselves like the adults that they are. And in fact they have their own interests, hobbies, and ears with which to hear requests for personal time.

Sometimes I wonder why I fear marriage when I am lucky enough to have many examples of wonderful partnerships in my family. Maybe I’m having a hard time blocking out what popular culture keeps predicting for me: I will have to be a vapid yet responsible nag, and my husband will be a drunk and smelly child. THANK YOU PATRIARCHY for letting me aspire to such a beautiful vision!