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My letter of resignation from everything Flylady-ish:
Dear Flylady,
I have tried yet again to join in with the Flybabies, and yet I always feel myself being pushed out. You see, I’m a guy. I happen to be the one in charge of managing the house and everything you talk about in terms of housekeeping applies to me, except the subtle sexism throughout undermines all the cheerleading you’re trying to do. It’s hard to stay excited about being a Flybaby, when you repeatedly use men as your foil. One example from today:
The internet for men is a place to retrieve
information: For women it has become a community:
The number of men participating in the “social networking” revolution on the Internet shows that men are, in fact, quite interested in finding community in the internet. This is but one example; I’m not interested in spending my time rooting out the others I’ve heard and read since re-joining Flylady. I have a house to manage, a wife to take care of, and children to raise. Thankfully, my daughters will not grow up thinking that housework is “women’s work.” They will not grow up thinking that men are disinterested in community, and they will not grow up thinking that they have to define themselves in contrast to men.
It’s unfortunate that you limit your audience. As businesswomen, you may want to consider that you may be losing a considerable number of us “liberated men” because of your choice of tone. Maybe it’s not possible for Flylady to ever become anything but a girls-only club, but I do have to say that it is with much regret that I find myself unsubscribing again. You do good work here, and I feel that I could use your advice and encouragement as well as the support of fellow Flybabies. But for me, I can’t keep up my enthusiasm for being a Flybaby, when it’s being communicated to me that as a man, I wont ever belong.
You see, some of us men do value community. And we know when we’re being shut out.
Peace.
~~Charles
