Respect for Women from Father to Son

Sometimes Husband teases me about my feminist leanings - like when I say I'm taking Fyo to the Brooklyn Museum for the Mary Wollstonecraft exhibit as well as the Judy Chicago Dinner Party exhibit to begin his feminist education or like yesterday when we took a car and behind the driver's seat was a copy of "Ms. Taxi" magazine. Husband pointed to Ms. Taxi, and said, "I'm afraid you have an uphill battle."

It's true. It seems like society is on the backlash side of the feminist pendulum swing at the moment.

"You can still win," he added.
"I win with you and Fyo," I said.
"Yes," he said.

I do spend a lot of time of thinking about how to raise my son in a sexist society - my daughter too. I don't want my daughter playing with princess dolls, but I don't want my son playing with them either. I don't him to treat women like princesses, or put them on pedestals or think that women have to be pretty all the time or that their looks are more important than what they say and do. And he learns as much about how to treat women from his father as he does me, but it seems many men (and women) forget this small detail, which is why we need occasional reminders like this:

And respect for women takes many forms from how men treat women in conversation to what men do around the house and how they interact with their children. This morning, I walked into the kitchen to see Husband cooking with my son (and without even thinking about it that my son is learning from him cooking is a family activity). Glorious!