February 10, 2010
Dear Clusterflock
Today I quit on an online survey concerning a “buying experience”; the only reason I was doing it was because it kept popping up in my mail and taking it seemed the quickest way to make it go away. But I came to a question that pissed me off and made me delete the whole thing. It asked me to indicate my “position” in my household: was I the Head of household? The spouse of the Head of household? A dependent of the Head of household? and so on. Do you find yourself thinking as I do that the whole notion of there necessarily being A head of household is archaic? In my view, the whole thing smacks of that Southern Baptist insistence that women “submit” to the will of their husbands, which I find to be one of many reprehensible notions they espouse. Can’t we get past the whole Command Structure thing? Is this just me going off, or do you have feeling about this?
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couldn’t agree more. that’s bullshit.
to put it another way, households are partnerships. or should be.
ever heard of the Christian fundamentalist notion of “headship” in a marriage?
these people still believe to this very day that a man has to be head of the household – biblically commanded and all that (bullshit).
i was explaining to my idiot Plymouth Brethren sister-in-law that I had to run a decision by my wife before figuring out where to go with a major issue in my life. she looked at me dumbfounded and didn’t understand that mrs. walt has a say. she had no concept of how our relationship could work that. tried to convince me that i had authority over her sister and i should exert it.
i told her politely to get stuffed.
this wasn’t 20 years ago. this was at Christmas time last year.
anyway, my point is that you’d be surprised by how many people still buy into this nonsense.
I’ve had similar experiences with family members, Walt. You would think I wouldn’t be astonished by it anymore, but it still knocks me over every time I run into it. A really common argument for such a hierarchical imperative is the old “well somebody has to be in charge at least in a legal sense” and another is “you get nothing but constant bickering if somebody doesn’t have the power to put His foot down.” They never pause to think that this disharmony is more likely to be caused by their repressive views. Note, too, that their understanding of shared power is blighted at the start by a long tradition in which obedience is more important than refusing to engage in child sacrifice.
I am the head of my household, bitch.
we have a winner.
Now we know the real reason Daryl wouldn’t answer the question.
Chinga all y’all.
Through guile and treachery I contrive to dominate any household I enter. Watch out, y’all.
gulp. sorry, Sorry….
I’m the head of my household. I make all the money, I spend all the money. Due to not being 25, I won’t get this special tax credit that Head of Householders get. Sad.
Y’all have no idea how that stuff filters down round ’bout these parts. I’ve only asked guys out three times and was afraid each time because I was worried it would be seen as unforgivably forward.
Feminism is still a bad word (for the most part) in the Christian church, though it’s unclear why. Sometimes I think girls just wanna get married and be stay-at-home moms cause they are lazy, and afraid.
I still think it doesn’t have to be like that. I don’t know, I go back and forth on all things.
It doesn’t have to be like anything. The very thought that I should be subservient to my life partner–or my partner subservient to me–just boggles my mind.
Those of you who meet Ronya in May (and Mr. Neece can attest to this) will immediately understand my position in the hierarchy.