Then he started asking me what I'd be willing to give up. How much privacy would I be willing to give up to live in connected pod homes. How much spontaneity in terms of menu planning or whether to eat in or out? Yadda Yadda. How much time would I be willing to devote to planning life together with, say, 15 other people -- since it would take planning. How much would I be willing to hand over in terms of collective decisions about proper child rearing, whether to use cloth or disposable, what kind of food to eat, what kind of detergent to buy, whether you go barefoot in the house or not, etc. etc.
Also, it never failed, in every fem. theory class, someone would talk about how they'd like to assist single moms with the tasks f raising kids, since as a couple they'd decided not to have kids. They wanted to put into practice the old "it takes a village...."
Great, I'd say. No one ever got off their ass to help. When we did try to create cooperatives, no one wanted to go to the bother. To much time planning. to much thought had to be put into it. To inconvenient because you might have to shift your schedule to accommodate the coop.
I'm not saying they were wrong, just that, for all the bitching about the nuclear family, I'm guessing most people wouldn't give it up. There are plenty of ways to do so, especially near college towns.
At 09:53 PM 1/2/2006, Thomas Seay wrote:
>--- Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> > But Susie Bright said that every grownup couple with
> > children needs a
> > door that locks, and I find that kind of persuasive.
> >
>
>Doug, you are about to learn why the nuclear family
>sucks (sometimes).
>
>The days of spontaneous sex are (for the most part)
>history.
>Get used to the idea of scheduled sex dates: ("Ok, the
>babysitter will be with him between 2 and 4, BE READY,
>if you know what I mean"). If with such time
>constraints, you find it difficult to always rise to
>the occasion, you have got company. If you never find
>it difficult under such circumstances, then you're a
>better man than me Gunga Din.
>
>Ok. I am exaggerating, but just a little.
>
>-Thomas
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