Recently, Magdalene J. Taylor declared in the New York ‘Times’: “There has still never been a better time in human history to happily and successfully pursue heterosexuality.” Despite all the grim headlines, straight Americans “have greater freedom than ever before to become whom we want and to date whom we want,” which should create “an optimism strong enough to render the gender wars irrelevant,” Taylor argues.
“But Taylor’s perspective is limited,” argues Sarah Jones. We shouldn’t give up on romance, whether we are heterosexual or not, but we can only love in the world as it is, not the world as it could be. We’re human beings, and we’ll never free ourselves from politics or rhetoric. Nor should we try.
Although it’s true that women can evade the worst of heterosexuality more easily than ever before, there are plenty of threats to consider. The manosphere is a noisy minority, but it’s hard to ignore the influence and political connections of misogynists like Andrew Tate. Most men don’t aspire to biblical patriarchy, but men who do are in the White House. Taylor points out that men are doing more labor at home, but again, the picture is more complex than she admits. Indeed, most child care falls to women, which Taylor points out, but the same is true of elder care. According to the Family Caregiving Alliance, roughly 66 percent of the nation’s informal care providers are women.
“We can’t look past these realities and their consequences in the name of love,” writes Jones. Read more:
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