Last night's news informed us of Santorum's littlest child being sick and in the hospital with a poor outlook given all of the rest of her health. This made me wonder--would the death of a child make for a poor male president.
One of Palin's complaints about politics as usual was that she felt uncomfortable telling the public of her last pregnancy. Her reasoning was pretty sound--for generations the illness that is pregnancy has meant that a further gap in the abilities of man and woman. There is the idea that once a woman gets pregnant her emotions will suddenly overcome her and she will be left a dripping ball of goo. Worries about post-partum depression arise and whether it will affect her judgment--furthering the idea that a woman is thus inferior to a man.
So, in this "post-modern" world, what does this mean for men? I think women have done a pretty good job of showing that we do not become fainting daisies while pregnant and working, so what about what happens to men when an equally "traumatic" event happens: such as when a child dies? Don't men also grieve? Or do we have our heads still stuck up our butts where men are concerned and falsely believe that they will all (and this really is the destinction--we live in a unanimous world) stand strong and make the right decisions with complete separation from their mental state?
We complain that Clinton and Gingrich thought with their "little heads", but maybe we need to step back and wonder at how many decisions are made with a broken heart.
Do I think this should be held against Santorum? No. Do I think that we should use examples like this to bridge the gap between males and females? Certainly.
One of Palin's complaints about politics as usual was that she felt uncomfortable telling the public of her last pregnancy. Her reasoning was pretty sound--for generations the illness that is pregnancy has meant that a further gap in the abilities of man and woman. There is the idea that once a woman gets pregnant her emotions will suddenly overcome her and she will be left a dripping ball of goo. Worries about post-partum depression arise and whether it will affect her judgment--furthering the idea that a woman is thus inferior to a man.
So, in this "post-modern" world, what does this mean for men? I think women have done a pretty good job of showing that we do not become fainting daisies while pregnant and working, so what about what happens to men when an equally "traumatic" event happens: such as when a child dies? Don't men also grieve? Or do we have our heads still stuck up our butts where men are concerned and falsely believe that they will all (and this really is the destinction--we live in a unanimous world) stand strong and make the right decisions with complete separation from their mental state?
We complain that Clinton and Gingrich thought with their "little heads", but maybe we need to step back and wonder at how many decisions are made with a broken heart.
Do I think this should be held against Santorum? No. Do I think that we should use examples like this to bridge the gap between males and females? Certainly.
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