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The Feminine Mistake
I haven't been blogging on any kind of regular basis because I've been feeling pretty overwhelmed lately. Work is hectic, comedy is bustling, and I barely have time to stare at the wall for a few hours a day, let alone write a witty blog post (and yes, I do note the lack of wit herein). Basically, I'm friggin' exhausted, and I still feel the need to do more, write more, smell more, etc. So a friend recommended a book called Too Good For Her Own Good, so I decided to check out the excerpt on Amazon. It seems to be about the terribly unsatisfying lives of women with jobs, kids, and husbands (oh my!). Here's one woman's tragic story:
...[S]ometimes it's just hopeless with men. One day I was entertaining people from his [my husband's] office. I was getting ready and he was out playing tennis. When he got back, I asked him if he would make the coffee. He said, 'I don't know how to make coffee.' So I said, 'Well, then go down and put the wash in the dryer for me.' He said, 'I'm not sure which clothes go in which load.' A few days later, I'd decided I'd had enough so I showed him how to make the coffee. The next morning I waited for him to do it. He put the coffee in the pot without a filter, so what did I get for my efforts? Grounds in my cup.
Whoa.
I don't know who I feel worse for: this woman or her clearly developmentally disabled husband. Either he is a hopeless error of evolution who could never survive in the wild, or she's incredibly gullible. When you are a member of the gender that is thought of as scientifically smarter, I guess it costs fewer dignity points to pretend to be a moron to get out of doing household chores.
The crazy thing to me is that this is the Typical Story, the picture painted of Everywoman in this book's introduction. Maybe it's a generational thing, but I don't have time for some dude who doesn't realize that you separate clothes in the WASHER, and that the dryer is the one you throw things into unless they are LABELED "do not dry." I mean honestly. Sometimes there are even pictures.
Posted by erinjudge at February 19, 2005 02:01 PM
Comments
i have to say, reading the excerpt i did not immediately reach the conclusion that this woman's husband was stupid. quite the contrary -- i determined that he is clever and lazy. we can spot our own. i used the same tricks to get out of doing chores at my mom's house. it comes down to the principle that if you fuck it up badly enough, you won't be asked to do it again. you think i put comet in the dishwasher because i didn't know better? hell no. i can read. but did my mother ever ask me to do the dishes again? no. this woman is clearly too busy doing everything the women in this book are bitching about to heed the alert of her bullshit detector. and since she never learned to play the game, she's destined to lose. her husband's never going to be useful. better luck next time, lady. erin, ask your friends to only recommend non-crap books in the future. =)
Posted by: njs ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.erinjudge.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at February 21, 2005 08:02 PM
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