Every [Sexist] Kiss Begins With Kay

Maybe it’s just me, but those commercials bother me. Not only is it perpetuating the commercialness of Christmas/holiday season, it also portrays women as one-dimensional, superficial beings who exchange affection/sex for colorless forms of pure carbon. Or those ads that imply that a man will get laid after he gives his wife/girlfriend a diamond anything? I like diamonds perhaps not as much as the next person, but regardless, I am insulted by the insinuation that I am so base that I will offer my body no-holds-barred if you give me an expensive gift.

My basic litmus test for sexism, can the roles be reversed? Would we see a commercial of a man opening a box to reveal…something…and seeing his eyes open wide, maybe well with tears, and launch himself into the arms of his wife/girlfriend? Would we see an ad in a magazine implying that a woman will be sexually satisfied if she gives her husband/boyfriend an expensive watch? I sincerely doubt it. Yes, I know, my test is flawed, and there are a thousand ways that it can backfire, but it works for me. Another one of my tests, swap the players with a mother/son or father/daughter combo. It kinda makes you realize how much we still use sex and sexuality as a society to sell shit.

Nicole is home now till the day after Christmas, which is very exciting, because she doesn’t get to see the girls much during the week. Today we are taking the girls to a playground today for their first experience in a swing! I am so excited! For anyone who lives in New York City or plans to visit with a stroller, here is what took me seven months to learn: Not all subway stations are wheelchair accessible. Meaning, not every station has elevators. So unless you are willing to lug a stroller up and down the stairs, you need to find the stations with the elevators. I can lug a single stroller up and down, but the double, no. Anyway, the handy official subway map shows little wheelchairs next to some stations. Those are the stations that have elevators. No little wheelchair, no elevator. Really, it took me so very long to realize this, and I have lived in the city for almost two decades. It is also really disturbing to think that people in wheelchairs or those that can’t make it up and down the stairs are screwed. How did subway stations get out of compliance with the American with Disabilities Act?

Pictured above, Avery and Madeline with presents that arrived for them in the mail from the adorable Riley . I am very excited for the girls to open the gifts because I happen to know that at least one of Riley’s moms is pretty crafty! So there is potential for a homemade gift! Which, to me, is the best kind.

* Updated to add: Playground was a success! The girls enjoyed the swing. A brilliant woman there suggested that we put them in the swing back-to-back. Leave me in a room for 60 years with two babies and a swing and I bet I would never come up with that! We would have stayed longer but their little legs were getting cold.