(no subject)

[which_chick]

Making the rounds, once again, on the liberal blogs I read, is the thing about housework inequality. (11D has a roundup of links that are sufficiently representative of the current go-round.)

Housework inquality. Man, that's gotta suck. Truly. I'd *hate* to have to be the one who always got stuck cleaning the toilet, scrubbing out the bathtub, and scooping the clumps out of the cat litter. It'd be SOOOO unfair to have to ALWAYS be the one to grocery shop, plan menus, cook dinner, AND THEN wash dishes EVERY DAMN NIGHT. There's no way I'd also be able to handle the outside chores, like mowing the grass, maintaining the garden, and splitting the stovewood. And having to do everybody's laundry all the time? No way I'd put up with that kind of inequality, particularly not if I also had to hold down a full-time real job outside the home, watch over the vehicles, and keep track of the household finances, including investments and retirement planning. That'd be just too much for one person to handle!

For our less-attentive audience members: I live alone with a cat. There is nobody in my house but me, so all the fucking chores that get done are done by me. I am also the sole breadwinner in my household because the cat doesn't seem to be able to hold a job, shiftless furball that she is. Personally, I find all the liberal whining about housework inequality to be kind of absurd. Oh, the horror of having to do all the housework by myself! Oh, the terrible pressure of having to keep a job because I'm the sole support for the household! My God! How does ANYONE stand it? I don't know, but I'm bearing up well under the strain and have been for the last ten years. [Full disclosure: I have things I'd rather be doing besides housework and mostly I do them instead of doing housework. Lowered expectations of cleanliness go a long way towards making my life less stressful.]

Now, I know that I lead my life happily wrapped in the cotton wool of singlehood because I'm way too fucking abrasive and fraught with control issues to be tolerated in large doses by anyone sane, but honestly. This what they're talking about with the housework inequality? It's whining. Look, people. Life is hard work. Get used to it.

Comments

[ornery-chick.livejournal.com]

Heh. I feel ya. I consider my husband decorative at times, because he doesn't do much of anything around the house. The best I can say for the man is that he doesn't create that many messes.

I do as much housekeeping as I feel like (not a vast lot...we don't live in squalor, but you would never mistake our joint for Martha Stewart's place, either).

I'd love a little more help around the house, but since it ain't happening, I do my best not to stress about it. And yes, I hear you where the "lowered expectations of cleanliness going a long way to making life less stressful." On a positive note, I went on vacuuming strike, and finally, last Friday, Todd got sick of the cat-hair and vaccumed the damn house himself.

[not-your-real.livejournal.com]

Well... but wouldn't it get under your skin if someone were getting a free ride enjoying your housework, contributing to the mess, and maybe even (god forbid, I can't imagine anyone trying) complaining that you weren't doing it right?

Now, I signed on for this as my job, for a number of reasons we needn't go into, so I figure that's fair... plus he doesn't complain without good reason, and he helps.

[which-chick.livejournal.com]

...wouldn't it get under your skin if someone were getting a free ride enjoying your housework, contributing to the mess, and maybe even (god forbid, I can't imagine anyone trying) complaining that you weren't doing it right?

Not if my JOB were staying home and doing the housework while the other household member(s) went out and had a real job in the outside world for the purposes of garnering income. (I figure that's pretty much the option you chose.) As we are all aware, I have serious and massive control issues that make this option untenable for me -- there's absolutely no way I'd give up having my own income and my own retirement and my own ability to take care of myself -- but I do accept that it can be valid for some folks.

It WOULD piss me off rather a lot if BOTH adults in the the household had real jobs in the outside world and I was the only one expected to do those things around the house.

Persons who complained that I was not doing the housework correctly would, in short order, find that they were assigned the parts I could not complete to their satisfaction. :)

[not-your-real.livejournal.com]

It WOULD piss me off rather a lot if BOTH adults in the the household had real jobs in the outside world and I was the only one expected to do those things around the house.

I had gathered that that was the general issue they were discussing: that working women still ended up doing 70% of the work.

[which-chick.livejournal.com]

Not all of them. Some were whining about being SAHP who had to do all the housework. Some of them were whining about being WOHP who had to do all the work. There was much whining.

I do all the housework AND all the outside chores AND all the breadwinning and I've had it up to my eyeballs with persons whining that they are stuck doing TOO MUCH WORK because the persons they fucking live with, breed with, and are married to cannot pick up their own thrice-damned socks. If it is that big of a problem, you pantywaists, dump the partner and go shopping for one who is a bit stronger in the picking-up-socks department. How'd you end up married to such a lamer anyway? Didn't you vet the person beforehand? *sheesh*

[electroweak.livejournal.com]

I'm a boy. Y-chromosome and everything. And I do almost all of the housework. Ivy cooks, and she does that because she loves cooking.

Do I begrudge this? Uh...ask me on a day when the bathroom doesn't need cleaning.

[electroweak.livejournal.com]

The next day, this comes off as sexist rather than funny. I hang my head in shame!

I really do all the housework, though.

[cousin-sue.livejournal.com]

Well, I point out that there's a significantly larger amount of cleaning to be done when you have a spouse and children. It's not just doubling, it's frightening.

The spouse will tell you he does all the cleaning in the house. he says this because he arrives home *after* I have cleaned up, made supper, and started going over the children's homework. So it is all in how you view it.

For what it's worth, I was a chamber maid in two hotels. 25 toilets a day. It's not something I enjoy. But it needs to be done. And anybody who complains needs to think about the people who have it Much Worse.