A recent study lead by a group at the Psychology Department of Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NF, Canada has been making the rounds in the media lately. This study finds evidence that fathers, especially involved fathers, have lower testosterone levels than their single counterparts.
Much speculation has been made of this on parenting and at-home dad blogs and forums that I frequent. The New York Times brought attention to the study by casting it in stereotypical negative light in the very first sentence:
Why would the author of the article assume that? Well, this Harvard professor of evolutionary biology, Peter Ellison, has one idea:
Personally, I think facts are facts. They are important to hear no matter what the implications might be. That aside, I think it is good to have reassurance of what many fathers who spend a significant amount of time taking care of their kids already realize; we are just as much made for the role of parent as mothers are. I personally did not need to hear from Ellison to get that message, and there are many fathers out there who take an active role in child rearing. However, there are still a very significant number who try to use their sex as a reason to evade their responsibilities, and I hope research like this helps to show those fathers that it is a poor excuse.
I think that a lot of the problem stems from something that keeps cropping up in many different areas; childhood indoctrination. It is no ones intention really, we show our kids the world as we see it. Ideas such as "boys don't cry", "you throw like a girl", and "man's work" are passed down generationally without much thought. Like accepting anything without much thought, it makes it harder to change the mind of the status quo when those things are found to be unfounded.
Removing the idea of the stereotypical male is, I think, the biggest part of the feminist movement that has yet to be realized. When the feminist movement made most of its progress, it was mostly focused on the female side of things, hence the name. Men who were part of the movement were pressing forward women's rights and largely ignoring the issues of sexism that mainstream society still defines as male.
The situation is improving, and the more facts we can get behind the idea that a male parent is not so much different from a female parent, the strong we are. We are starting to see a lot more stay at-home fathers. More fathers are taking paternity leave when their children are born. Men do more of the cooking, cleaning, and other "traditionally" female duties. The more we take equal share in everything that needs to be done, or even delegate according to our better abilities rather than our sexual roles, the better communication gets, and the happier families get.
Much speculation has been made of this on parenting and at-home dad blogs and forums that I frequent. The New York Times brought attention to the study by casting it in stereotypical negative light in the very first sentence:
This is probably not the news most fathers want to hear.
Why would the author of the article assume that? Well, this Harvard professor of evolutionary biology, Peter Ellison, has one idea:
“I think American males have been brainwashed” to believe lower testosterone means that “maybe you’re a wimp, that it’s because you’re not really a man.
“My hope would be that this kind of research has an impact on the American male. It would make them realize that we’re meant to be active fathers and participate in the care of our offspring.”
Personally, I think facts are facts. They are important to hear no matter what the implications might be. That aside, I think it is good to have reassurance of what many fathers who spend a significant amount of time taking care of their kids already realize; we are just as much made for the role of parent as mothers are. I personally did not need to hear from Ellison to get that message, and there are many fathers out there who take an active role in child rearing. However, there are still a very significant number who try to use their sex as a reason to evade their responsibilities, and I hope research like this helps to show those fathers that it is a poor excuse.
I think that a lot of the problem stems from something that keeps cropping up in many different areas; childhood indoctrination. It is no ones intention really, we show our kids the world as we see it. Ideas such as "boys don't cry", "you throw like a girl", and "man's work" are passed down generationally without much thought. Like accepting anything without much thought, it makes it harder to change the mind of the status quo when those things are found to be unfounded.
Removing the idea of the stereotypical male is, I think, the biggest part of the feminist movement that has yet to be realized. When the feminist movement made most of its progress, it was mostly focused on the female side of things, hence the name. Men who were part of the movement were pressing forward women's rights and largely ignoring the issues of sexism that mainstream society still defines as male.
The situation is improving, and the more facts we can get behind the idea that a male parent is not so much different from a female parent, the strong we are. We are starting to see a lot more stay at-home fathers. More fathers are taking paternity leave when their children are born. Men do more of the cooking, cleaning, and other "traditionally" female duties. The more we take equal share in everything that needs to be done, or even delegate according to our better abilities rather than our sexual roles, the better communication gets, and the happier families get.
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