While living with my grandmother, I have heard several stories of my father's childhood. I learned that my grandmother, being a single parent and raising four children, taught them how to fend for themselves. My father took part in all the household chores and therefore understands the meaning of being a "team member." Now that he is an adult, what made him believe that it was okay to stop? He repeatedly lets the several women he has been married to take care of all the household duties.
             After reading Victoria Register–Freeman's essay, "Hunks and Handmaidens" it helped explain my father's change. Because Freeman was a single parent of two boys, she taught them how to carry their own weight, domestically. "Then came puberty and hunk-hood," as Freeman calls it. She realized her boys' domestic skills had atrophied because "handmaidens appeared en masse." It seemed the girls pushing the door down were eager to help the guys out.
             Freeman, raising her sons to be self-sufficient, didn't believe that this was the payoff she deserved. However, she realized she had done her part, when raising them. "The two hunks know what women can do; they respect that ability, and at some level are wired to help." Freeman lastly states, " It's now up to Tiffany, Kendra, and Kimberly."
             I believe Freeman's conclusion regarding women's part in the male problem, is the same reason my father stopped taking household responsibility. Listening to him make the statement, " I need someone to take care of my dry-cleaning, laundry, and other household things," just about made me sick! His excuse was "Jesica, I just don't have time." My reaction was telling him I really felt sorry for his current wife Cindy. I realized that my father, being on his third marriage, had the idea that if they didn't take care of him ...