With regards to the importance of these gender specific roles I wonder, are fathers only this "idea" rather than a "fact" because of how our specific cultures define them? Has it become too universal to say that “men belong to the public sphere of the market place”, while “women belong to this private sphere of the family,” because the “traditional family” structure has faded?
After reading "The Facts of Fatherhood" I thought, where do couples that adopt a child fall into Laqueur's argument? Then Laqueur would have to look not so much into the biological “fact” of motherhood versus fatherhood, because then who takes what gender-specific role if there is no specific "sperm" linked to the parents?
In Thursday's class discussion, we pointed out so many different instances that defy the "traditional definitions" of "motherhood" and "fatherhood." It leads me to believe that definitions only limit our understanding of what parents should or shouldn't be, when the only thing that should define them is their love and commitment to the family...
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