The celebs/actors, of course, are why this is not COMPLETELY off-topic.
I was flipping through a 2008 book: "Lies young women believe : and the
truth that sets them free" by Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth and Dannah Gresh.
(It's very religious in a shaky way; practically every paragraph has
"God" "Christian" or "godly" in it, when the authors are addressing the reader.)
Anyway, this part caught my eye. (I don't know why India is in the URL,
but this was the fastest way to find the page and copy it. However, this
does not include the photos, so the page number - 185 - may not be the
same as in the book itself. It might be better to start reading from
page 183, though.)
http://hcf-india.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Lies-Young-Women-Believe-And-the-Truth-That-Sets-Them-Free-by-Demoss-Nancy-Leigh-and-Gresh-Dannah.pdf
"Sadly, these two roles—wife and mother—have come under attack in our culture. The result is that even the church isn’t committed to
protecting them. In
1987, only 20 percent of Christians felt that women should not emphasize
these
two roles. In 2007, just twenty years later, this had grown to 47
percent who felt
that the roles of marriage and motherhood should not be emphasized for
women. That survey was over a decade ago. Our experience suggests that
this
trend has continued to grow.
"A lot of young women today fear marriage (perhaps because they’ve not
seen
a lot of great examples). And increasingly, young married women are
choosing
not to have children or to delay motherhood until they’ve had a chance
to do
everything else they want to do in life.
"Who will protect these vital roles? We hope you will. We hope you can
see
that they are worth protecting. Now, we realize that your feathers may
be a bit
ruffled right now. Given the way we’re programmed by the world, God’s
Truth
is a stark contrast. So, let’s see if we can soften it up a bit by
getting a unique
perspective.
"I (Dannah) sat down with my (17-year-old) son, Rob, and his best
friend, Ryan, to get a
guy’s perspective on all this. What these two godly guys had to say was compelling."
Dannah: What do you guys think makes a woman a woman?
(Nervous laughter followed by dumbfounded silence!)
Dannah: OK, let’s try another approach. Do you think it is OK for a
woman to
want to be a wife and mother?
Rob and Ryan in unison: Yes! Definitely!
Dannah: Do you think girls in your generation feel the freedom to want
that?
Rob and Ryan in unison: No. Not at all.
Ryan: It’s so wrong, because girls feel pressure NOT to be a wife and
mother. It’s
not like they feel pressure to be a career woman. It’s a negative thing. It’s bad.
Society puts this pressure on them.
Rob: It’s not like she CAN have a career. It’s like she SHOULD have one.
Dannah: Do you think that’s fair?
Rob: Not at all. If a guy had that attitude about not wanting a wife and
kids, he’d
be considered a jerk. I don’t get it. Just like we’re supposed to want
to protect a
wife and be a great dad, girls should want to have a husband and be a
great
mom.
"Eureka! That’s it, isn’t it? If there were a men’s movement to absolve them of
their right to be a great husband and dad, it would quickly be shot
down. No
woman would want to marry a man who said, 'Babe, you’re cool and
everything, but I’m not that into the family thing. The most important
thing in
my life is going to be my career. If you want to hang out while I pursue
it,
whatever!' No way! We want someone who is hook, line, and sinker in love
with us and wants to make our relationship the most important earthly
love they
ever pursue.
"In my conversation with Rob and Ryan, Ryan said, 'The world is telling
girls
that they don’t have the freedom to even choose to pursue being a wife
and a
mom.'
"We are telling you that you do! You do have the freedom to choose to
live out
God’s designed role for you and the adventure, romance, love, and
blessings that
come with it.
"Not only do you have the freedom to fully embrace God’s design for
women
—not only is it an incredible privilege—but as a child of God, you have
a
responsibility to fulfill His calling and His purpose for your life as a
woman.
And for most women that means embracing marriage and motherhood as a
vital
and God-given mission and calling..."
_______________________________________________________
So, what I'm getting at is:
1. While the boys didn't say anything about the role of the HOUSEWIFE,
per se, there still seems to be a bit of confusion on their part between growing up as a girl and becoming a housewife.
2. More importantly, how is anyone "considered" a jerk for having
certain attitudes, so long as he keeps those attitudes secret? In other
words, if you only want to date certain people in a way that eliminates
80% or so of the dating pool, that is your right. You just have to be
polite and discreet about it.
3. And, more to the point, think of these 17 famous MEN.
https://www.msn.com/en-sg/news/other/17-male-celebrities-who-are-proudly-child-free/ss-AA1kEqZx
Does anyone really think that their decision not to have children
automatically makes them "jerks"?
I very much doubt it. What WOULD be jerkish would be if they dated
people who WANT children - and managed to mislead them, just for the
sake of sex. (Or money.)
Thoughts?
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