If Woman is the Oven, What is man?

This topic came about while I was working last night when a fellow co-worker said the
man at the bar wouldn't let her serve him because he only likes the male bartenders (not
in a gay-way). She was very frustrated at this notion and vented to me and two other
male co-workers. One of their responses was (jokingly) that women should be at home
making babies while her husband is out working and providing for them.

Then he continued to say "you're an oven, so baby, bake!!!" It was all a joke, but I
began thinking, ok, if the phrase is "She has a bun in the oven," what is the male
providing? Is he the flavoring in the bun, the ingredients? Just as "Sex, Gender and
Identity" mentions in Chapter 9 of Chris Barker's "Cultural Studies, "Common sense
ecompasses a form of biological reductionism suggesting that the biochemical and
genetic structures of human beings determine the behaviour of men and women in quite
different adn specific ways" (285). This is an understatement.

Now-a-days, women are not seeking the "male specified, common sense, role of
provider" in order to gain a child. They are now seeking "role of sperm donor." It is not
that many women are just seeking to get pregnant and not need a man to support them,
but in many situations, women, well, don't need a man to support them and just want to
have a family. Is this wrong? I think not. If a man is measured by only his wallet size,
what does that say of our society? That we are shallow....

If a man is measured by the caring and involvement of his family and support of his
loved ones, he is not masculine? I believe the double standard is begining to reverse its
roles. Women are seen as powerful if they can have a family of their own without the
financial support of a man, where as men are seen as deadbeats if they leave the mother
of their children.

Roles of men and women are changing, with the common, stay at home dad, or full-time
mother who is also working full-time in the workforce. And all I can say is that it's about
time :)