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Friday, February 10, 2006

Feminine mystique

I have a theory about the Feminine Mystique. It has returned -- in a different format.

I know I'm a guy, but hear me out!

Consider this scene from the pilot of Desperate Housewives:

FORMER CO-WORKER: So… how’s domestic life? Don’t you just love being a mom?

NARRATOR/MARY ALICE YOUNG: And there it was - the question that Lynette always dreaded.

LYNETTE: (hesitant) Well, to be honest...

NARRATOR: To those who asked it, only one answer was acceptable. So, Lynette responded as she always did - she lied.

LYNETTE: It’s the best job I’ve ever had. (smiling widely)

(script excerpt courtesy Hypnoweb)

Perhaps you might say Felicity Huffman was born to play this role. In interviews -- most notably the one she did last month with 60 Minutes which I loved -- she has asserted that concept that she is trying to be a good mother, but it is really hard.

And, I would say, when your child is being difficult, being a mother doesn't seem the greatest thing in the world to do.

Whereas practically everybody else in the world (note, this is an exaggeration) is all about "it's the most rewarding thing i've ever done" and so on.

The crux of The Feminine Mystique is there is more to life than being a homemaker (read Betty Friedan's obit from CNN/AP).

I don't know, I've never had a child, I probably would like to try being a father someday. But you don't have to .... I don't know ... gloss over the difficulty when speaking about raising a child.

Maybe I'm just thinking of all the celebrities who appear on talk shows and say it's wonderful to be a mother. .....I mean, you don't want to say, NO, IT'S AWFUL, I HATE MY CHILDREN, but come on! .......

.... I think it was somewhere in one of the Ramona Quimby books where there was a discussion of how you may hate your mother, father, brother, sister, etc. at certain moments, but love them at others. .....

More Felicity dish at Blogging Baby.

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 2/10/2006 03:04:00 AM ... Email this entry ...
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