Gender Roles

This week was particularly enlightening and really caused me to consider what role I wanted to play in my family and, more importantly, my future family.  Living in California, I have been bombarded with gender role and homosexual propaganda.  Women should be in the workplace, not shackled to their kitchen table, people said.  Homosexuality should be embraced, how dare you argue with us, you must be a bigot, they accused.

Recently, I read a book by one of my favorite people to listen to on the radio, Dr. Laura.  Her book "In Praise of Stay at Home Moms" really boosted my confidence in my decision to become a stay at home mom.  There are so many naysayers out there who try to put down the stay at home mothers, the caretakers and nurturers of the next generation.  They are treated as unintelligent, suppressed, less than.  I certainly didn't want to be any of those things, but I knew that being a mother should and would be my first priority.  I was being dragged down by the feminist culture that surrounded me.  Dr. Laura truly brought me back up.  A successful woman and a mother herself, she took time off from her career to raise a son.  Motherhood is truly rewarding, and I am proud of my decision to take the role of a stay at home mother in the future.

I love that men and women are so different in so many wonderful ways, but the same in many ways as well.  It gives us a chance to be familiar and connect with each other and creates an excitement in the unknown and challenges that can strengthen the relationship.  To me, I see life as boring and unfulfilled if my future husband was too much like me.  Perhaps even frustrating (more so than if he was not like me).

I am extremely glad that we learned more about homosexuality this week.  During Prop 8, I got asked many questions about why I believed gays shouldn't get married.  I honestly didn't know many facts about homosexuality, whether it was biological or psychological (I had my own thoughts, but I didn't want to be wrong), so I didn't say much except that I believed that marriage should be between a man and a woman.  Now that I am more informed, I feel much more secure in my position and in potentially sharing it with others when asked.