Can We Stop Calling Men Women Just Because They Clean Something?

An animated gif video of a man vacuuming, dancing enthusiastically as he does so
Giphy

Can we please stop with calling men "housewives" or "Mr. Mom" or even just "the wife" or "the mom" when they engage in domestic labour?

I'm sure it seems cute and funny and nice that the dude is comfortable enough with his masculinity to be like, "Yeah, I'm the mom, dig it!" but truly, all that does is reinforce the idea that the man is doing a woman's job! We are literally calling a man a woman because he is cleaning or taking care of his own children.

Here's an excellent gender-neutral replacement term for the partner who is taking care of household responsibilities: the house spouse!

It rhymes! It's cute and playful! It makes you think of an adorable little mouse dusting! It can be used by couples (or thruples!) made up of any combination of gender identities! And, most importantly, IT DOESN'T ASSUME ANY PARTICULAR GENDER'S DEFAULT RESPONSIBILITY FOR HOUSEWORK. 

(Credit to my friends Matt and Blythe for coming up with that one. They are a really wonderful pair of people who seem to naturally default to gender equity in their relationship and I thrill to see it.)


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