This happened a while back, but there was no recognition that it was a problem, no resolution, and it just keeps bugging me. I married a hard-core feminist, maybe not my smartest choice, but I love her and overall I think she is a good woman. Nobody's perfect. Anyway, I am constantly having to deal with the kids being taught bullshit. "There is no difference whatsoever between facts and opinions." "Body fat has no impact on health outcomes." (not from my wife, but from her crowd) "To name a thing is to exercise power and thereby do violence to the thing named." That kind of stuff.

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So, we are having a conversation with my 15-year-old step-daughter when she drops a rare compliment. "Well mom, you turned out good, so your parents must have done a good job raising you." At this point my wife laughs derisively and says "Are you kidding? My father never *bothered* to parent me. You think he ever lifted a finger to help my mother with us kids?" I had to call bullshit. "Didn't you tell me that you rarely saw your father as a child, that he worked 100 hour work weeks, going to work before you got up and getting home after you went to bed? He devoted essentially every minute of the prime of his life to slaving away, to provide for you, and you call that 'not lifting a finger'?" She replied "I was just saying he didn't have anything to do with how I turned out." I replied "Yes, he did. You had the best of everything. The best food, the best house, the best school, your choice of college, because he sacrificed his life for you. And you repay that by teaching his granddaughter to think less of him?" She shrugged and the two girls continued the conversation as if nothing had happened.

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Men's lives matter. The work we do matters. Masculine traits can be used for good. Feminism is not just about teaching girls that they are as good as, and as important as, men. Feminism is teaching both our girls and boys that the only issues that matter are women's issues. That the only contributions that matter are women's contributions. They are teaching our children to devalue and disregard men, and I'm tired of it. I work full time, frequently more than 40 hours a week. I try to do chores around the house in the evening and work with the kids on their homework and such, but most of my 'free time' is spent on projects only I can do, such as repairing electronic devices or building new fixtures around the house. Does she see me as worthless because I'm not cooking as often as she is? This is both frustrating and disheartening.