Attention all “keepers of your home.” You can save Christmas. Oh wait, only if you are a woman.
In a video posted on Facebook, Growing Pains child star Kirk Cameron, calls on wives and mothers and “keepers of your home” to essentially save Christmas. How? By decorating their homes, cooking food, singing songs, telling stories and keeping traditions. Oh, and apparently by inviting the entire neighborhood over to see all of the hoopla.
Now, the question is: what does he mean by “and keepers of the home?” Does he include husbands and fathers in this category? Is this language just qualifying what wives and mothers are “supposed” to be? Or is this category separate and distinct from wives and mothers?
Social media and others have jumped all over Mr. Cameron’s post claiming he is only addressing “wives and mothers” and calling his comments sexist. But maybe Mr. Cameron meant “and keepers of your home” to be all inclusive and is finally including fathers and husbands in the apparent crucially important aspects of singing holiday tunes and stuffing the bird. After all, husbands and fathers tell pretty good stories (c’mon, “The Night Before Christmas” anyone?). Husbands and fathers can also certainly belt out a great “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” (have you heard Garth Brook’s version?) So, let’s give Mr. Cameron the benefit of the doubt, shall we?
No, no I guess we shouldn’t. Looking at the actual Facebook post introducing the video, the title reads:
CALLING ALL MOMS
Calling all moms, wives, and keepers of your home- I made this video for you, to remind you of how irreplaceable you are to your family this Christmas.
Therefore, given his initial title, it is very unlikely he intended on including anyone other than women in these (apparent) important aspects of Christmas. So I guess the real question is, why?
It is time we, as a society, stop placing women in these archaic “decorating” and “cooking” roles. We need to acknowledge that men, as well as women, are important in keeping the household together. Whether that means by cooking, cleaning, (singing?) and telling stories, a household is created by TEAMWORK, not merely by the wife or mother.
By calling on only wives and mothers in an attempt to “remind you of how irreplaceable you are to your family this Christmas” only infers that somehow men are NOT. That does a disservice to everyone and is shameful.
To be fair, he also encourages wives and mothers not to let anything “steal your joy.” Ok, Mr. Cameron, we all should agree to that, both women and men. So, let’s not allow anything to steal our joy this holiday season, especially Kirk Cameron.
