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Alright, what causes this distribution of work?

Wild_Aioli

April 17, 2023

21 upvotes

/r/AntiFeminists

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Title	Alright, what causes this distribution of work?
Author	Wild_Aioli
Upvotes	21
Comments	12
Date	April 17, 2023 4:32 PM UTC (3 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/AntiFeminists
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/antifeminists/comments/12po6xr/alright_what_causes_this_distribution_of_work/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/AntiFeminists/alright-what-causes-this-distribution-of-work.1214667 https://theredarchive.com/post/1214667

Comments

[–]thehedgehawg 7 points8 points9 points 3 years ago (9 children) | Copy Link

[–]john35093509 6 points7 points8 points 3 years ago (0 children) | Copy Link

[+]bunnypaste 0 points1 point2 points 3 years ago (7 children) | Copy Link

There is a difference between autonomous and routine tasks. Routine tasks do not have a set end point, so no sense of accomplishment can be found. Routine tasks regenerate into infinity and are 24/7. Routine tasks are necessary but unsavory and involve no building, learning, or problem-solving. They do not develop valuable skills, involve no innovation, and do not generate income. Examples of routine tasks are washing dishes, doing laundry, cleaning the toilet, childcare, caring for family members, emotional labor, scheduling family appointments, and cooking dinner. Research has proven that any individual who spends the majority of their time on routine tasks becomes clinically depressed.

Autonomous tasks do not carry this same warning, even if they are considered unsavory. Autonomous tasks are finished once you complete them and do not replenish into infinity, so a sense of accomplishment can be achieved in completing them well. Autonomous tasks involve development of skills, learning, building, problem-solving, and innovation. Autonomous tasks have the ability to generate income. Examples of autonomous tasks are from your own list - yardwork, maintenence tasks in the home (structural, plumbing, lighting), and car maintenence.

[–]lumen-lotus 2 points3 points4 points 3 years ago (4 children) | Copy Link

Men do not generate income from these autonomous tasks unless they comprise paid work. This means men perform intensive labor that requires the cultuvation of skills and knowledge and are not paid for it.

Oh, and please cite the source that refers to routine labor causing depression. I really doubt people develop depression from cleaning their house and doing the dishes. Women in the 70s and 80s reported being happier than men despite definitely performing all of the routine household labor. I do disagree with your definition of autonomous and routine labor because both do stretch into infinity and require innovation and problem-solving. Yardwork, car maintenance, and fixing household utilities are reoccurring necessities. Childcare and caring for family members do require innovation and problem-solving, but I think you may be concentrated on objects more than people (no offense, but maybe you're a man who doesn't perform "emotional labor" very often?).

[–][deleted] 3 years ago* (3 children) | Copy Link

[–]lumen-lotus 1 point2 points3 points 3 years ago (2 children) | Copy Link

In the study you linked, the authors admitted that "the overall quality of evidence in the included studies was low to moderate."

You may be an androgenic woman, and therefore you should be wary of extrapolating your experiences to the majority of (estrogenic) women. You present yourself as possessing stamina, initiative, assertiveness, dominance, and systematic intelligence. You were exposed to above-average levels of testosterone in utero, I've no doubt, because I assure you, estrogenic women dislike the work you tout as revitalizing to your mental health. Mechanical work, computer technology, troubleshooting, and problem-solving are disproportionally androgenic preferences.
[Waist-to-Hip Ratio across Cultures: Trade-Offs between Androgen- and Estrogen-Dependent Traits by Elizabeth Cashdan]

You did not address the fact that men perform unpaid, home-bound skilled labor; and you concentrate on mechanics and technician work, rather than shoveling snow, lawn mowing, and home repairs. Would you like to shovel snow, mow the lawn in the summertime, fix a clogged toilet, grout, paint a room, haul an air conditioner up the stairs, and repair leaking pipes for a living? Men do not apply these developed skills to their occupations unless their jobs comprise that labor intrinsically.

I do not know how to level with you, because you call caring about and for other people... self-martyring, laboring behind the scenes, and imprisonment. I would be happy to cook for my children and husband, but I suppose you would spiritually terminate. I do not want to do mechanical or technological work because I would self-terminate.

Furthermore, the work you described is, in social science, called core and non-routine labor. I disagree that men's work is non-routine because it is routine for men, but laundry, dishwashing, cooking, and cleaning the house are mandatory. The labor you describe as having an end-point actually does not, because the very phrase home repair means the inexorable pull of entropy will cause the house and car to decay ad Infinium. Grass also never stops growing, and plants must be tended to periodically. And it snows every year. Dishes and laundry merely have to be done more frequently; despite that, there is an end-point for those particular tasks until a new load must be attended to.

And "screaming children"? I would not reduce my child to a screaming mouth... That is rather uncharitable of you.

I'm also female and just had my first child. Should I give up everything of myself now and work from this point forward on traditionally women's labor, while it erodes my mental health and the cohesiveness of my relationship and renders me resentful, time-poor and incapable of meeting my own needs? Should I labor behind the scenes now, uncompensated and unfairly, only for the success and health of my partner and my child at my own serious expense?

"Only" for the success and health of your child? If being a fully devoted mother renders you resentful because it leaves you time-poor to pursue your hobbies, well... Know that homemakers and part-time working mothers express increased happiness in low-staus, low-paid jobs, even if that sounds flummoxing.

The majority of women aim for a homemaker career in which paid work is of secondary or peripheral importance, with strong support from their husbands. A minority of women are committed to work as a central life goal, achieving jobs at higher levels of earnings and status.

[Grateful slaves and self-made women: fact and fantasy in women's work orientations by Catherine Hakim]

I question what makes you unique in that you successfully negotiated for equitable contributions from your partner. I see that you subscribe to a blank-slate, socialization approach to human behavior, but respectfully deny that stance. You prefer objects, and these women prefer... their children.

[+]bunnypaste 0 points1 point2 points 3 years ago (0 children) | Copy Link

[–]thehedgehawg 1 point2 points3 points 3 years ago (0 children) | Copy Link

[–]sprudelcherrydiesoda 0 points1 point2 points 3 years ago [recovered] (3 children) | Copy Link

[–]casra888 1 point2 points3 points 3 years ago (2 children) | Copy Link

[–]sprudelcherrydiesoda [score hidden] 3 years ago* [recovered] (0 children) | Copy Link

[–]casra888 0 points1 point2 points 3 years ago (0 children) | Copy Link