Thursday, October 2, 2008

A Social Study


I also love this clip... I love the message, the spirit, the tone. It grieves me deeply that opponents of gay marriage are afraid of this.

However, I didn't post this clip just because I love it or to express my sorrow about the previous mentioned fear. I posted this clip to address another fear opponents of gay marriage hold: "Gay marriage will destroy [traditional] gender roles."

If one is attentive, one can see something very interesting about gender roles, even traditional gender roles -- not in the song but in the responses to the very first two questions the host asks.

The majority of the children were attending with their mothers.

Even in such a secular country as Holland (I believe such is where this was filmed), it is primarily the mothers who are schlepping their kids around.

Neither did the children appear confused when the terms "mother" and "father" were used.

Hell, just the fact that the terms "mother" and "father" were used in their gendered classes is a testament that the fear that gay marriage will muddle the concept gender is unfounded.

And of course, within the song itself, there's still a distinction between what is considered motherly and what is considered fatherly.

Gender is not fading. Traditional gender roles are not fading.

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