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Wait until girls do it for them!

While tut-tutting about those wicked couples who are living together, the Polish Catholic church also offers some parenting advice.

Archbishop Gadecki warned that encouraging boys to clean up after themselves so as to subvert gender stereotypes could have dangerous consequences.

Some parents like to teach boys that they should clean up after themselves, and not wait until girls do it for them.

The archbishop suggested that such leanings should be treated with caution, because parents often do not realise that same-sex partnerships are also championed under the banner of overcoming stereotypes.

No! Don’t tell me that such wicked parents actually exist, or next you’ll tell me there are parents who don’t whip their children or actually let them have seconds at dinnertime. But if you don’t let the boys be lazy, they’ll grow up to be gay!

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Comments

  1. Gorogh, Lounging Peacromancer says

    The implicit message here seems to be that all of the prevalent stereotypes are carefully memetically engineered by the Catholic Church to ensure humankind’s salvation the status quo, so one ought not question stereotypes at all? Or gay sex? Wait what?

  2. Jackie says

    I’d be fine with all of my kids turning out gay. I would not be fine with any of them growing up to be lazy, irresponsible sexists. The patriarchy has some very strange priorities.

  3. Ariaflame, BSc, BF, PhD says

    What about the stereotype of catholic priests being child molestors. Are they on board with that one?

  4. Yellow Thursday says

    Wait. The reason that parents ask their sons to clean up after themselves is to “subvert gender stereotypes?” *boggles*

  8. Beatrice, an amateur cynic looking for a happy thought says

    Yellow Thursday,

    Not the foremost reason, but one of the reasons – sure, why not? I would consider that to be a positive thing. While you’re raising a person to be able to take care of themselves, why not also raise a person who’s aware of gender stereotypes (if in simplified form, as age appropriate).

  9. Beatrice, an amateur cynic looking for a happy thought says

    Teaching a girl to clean isn’t just teaching her to clean after herself, it’s teaching her to take care of her future family.

    So I don’t doubt that teaching a boy the same is seen as intentional subverting of stereotypes instead of, as should be more obvious, teaching him to be a functional, capable adult.

  10. U Frood says

    I’m a single father raising a son, if I don’t teach him to pick up after himself who will? (I’m sure not going to do it, that’s women’s work).

    Will the bishop send me a nun to work as a maid?

  13. Larry says

    I would not be fine with any of them growing up to be lazy, irresponsible sexists

    Or, even worse, priests.

  14. robertfoster says

    I guess all the guys who scrubbed out toilets in basic training became gay. (Except for me, I’m the exception.)

  15. says

    So we teach boys that girls are inferior to stop them from becoming gay? Whatever will they think of next?!
    I can see how somebody who believes that would talk to a burning bush. And wait for it to answer.

  16. Jacob Schmidt says

    We must make the women clean, otherwise the gays win!

    Cleaning up after yourself is a matter of self sufficiency.

  17. says

    Wait…why exactly, again, are we supposed to be taking relatonship and child-raising advice from a self-professed lifelong childless celibate single person? Because of their arcane interpretations of the between-the-lines parts of their Bronze-Age anthology?

    Ye gods and fishes, but homo credens is a weird, weird organism.

  18. mildlymagnificent says

    What does that say about the army and the navy? I’m pretty sure that soldiers and sailors are expected to pick up after themselves. And I’m fairly certain that Poland’s women members of the military weren’t admitted just to clean the latrines and make the sammiches.

  19. Crimson Clupeidae says

    Larr@13
    quoteing Jackie@2:

    I would not be fine with any of them growing up to be lazy, irresponsible sexists[.]

    Or, even worse, priests.

    But you repeat yourself….

    Thank you, thank you, I’ll be here all week. Try the veal, and don’t forget to tip the squid.

  21. drst says

    All those “go make me a sandwich” dudebros are exactly as cutting edge as Catholic priests. Good to know.

  22. magistramarla says

    When I was growing up I had a friend who was from a large Polish Catholic family. The girls in that family had to get up early to pack lunches for their brothers. All of those kids had chores, but the chores were divided strictly along traditional gender roles. The boys would mow the lawn, but weren’t allowed to learn to cook. The girls did all of the cooking and cleaning, but never any “outdoor work”. My friend was not even allowed to learn to drive, since women in that family didn’t ever drive.
    Looking back on it now, there was little difference between that family and a “traditional” Muslim family, huh?

  23. azhael says

    It takes A LOT of fucking ignorance in this day and age to say something that extraordinarily fucking ignorant. Or evil…evil works too….

  24. Usernames! → smart says

    Wait…why exactly, again, are we supposed to be taking relatonship and child-raising advice from a self-professed lifelong childless celibate single person?
    — CaitieCat, getaway driver (#)

    Because DUNNING-KRUGER EFFECT!

    From teh wiks:

    The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias manifesting in unskilled individuals suffering from illusory superiority, mistakenly rating their ability much higher than is accurate. This bias is attributed to a metacognitive inability of the unskilled to recognize their ineptitude.

    In this case, Archbishop Gadecki has NO skill, yet not only thinks he is skilled, but an expert in the field.

  25. Al Dente says

    A celibate bachelor thinks he has something relevant to say about marriage. What chutzpah his archiness has.

  27. says

    Hm, I personally have found it extremely useful to know how to be self sufficient, including the basics of hygiene and keeping my area(s) clean, when I was “on the market”. I’m pretty sure my significant other would not have stuck around if I was a slob. I’ve been lead to believe most woman are looking for companionship/relationship, not to be a housekeeper.

    I usually do all the dishes (she usually cooks, and I’m all about not making the cook clean). But luckily my GF has a solution from keeping me getting teh gay after I do the dishes. I’l leave it at that (no, I don’t do the dishes for a reward, but it certainly doesn’t hurt).

  28. Marc Abian says

    What does that say about the army and the navy? I’m pretty sure that soldiers and sailors are expected to pick up after themselves.

    The navy is probably not the greatest example to bring up to someone who believes so strongly in gay stereotypes.

  31. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    Teach a boy to be a lazy, spoiled, slovenly, egocentric, sexist, pompous arsehole, and he’ll grow up to be an archbishop wear dresses embroidered with shiny thread and sequins.

    Catholics and gender: more weird than complicated, but really it’s a lot of both.

  34. llamaherder says

    It’s amazing how the people who think gender defines behavior are the same people who are terrified that making a boy clean up after himself will make him girly.

  35. =8)-DX says

    What? Girls just “naturally” clean up after themselves? I wish my daughter knew that, I wish *I* knew that, instead of treating cleanliness as one of those annoying but crucial habits we have to cram into our children’s heads for their own benefit down the road (like personal hygiene, looking both ways before crossing the road, not touching strange dogs without their owners’ permission). I guess if I just let her blithely accept gender stereotypes, I could put my feet up and let my daughter do all the housework!

  36. =8)-DX says

    @Piotr Gąsiorowski & Crip Dyke

    Teach a boy to be a lazy, spoiled, slovenly, egocentric, sexist, pompous arsehole, and he’ll grow up to be an archbishop wear dresses embroidered with shiny thread and sequins.

    But don’t you see? It’s only sinful girly if you’re a queer!