I don’t enjoy ironing. I just don’t like it, I would rather wear wrinkled clothes than take the time to iron them, and as for ironing my husband’s shirts, I know it sounds awful but he is 25 and knows where the iron is, if he wants ironed shirts he can do it. I am sure you are all (all one of you) scratching your heads and asking why is Ashley writing this?, well it could be for a number of reasons- but if I had to choose just one I would say it is because I recently read something about how “good” wives iron. Let me start again- I don’t consider myself a bad wife because I don’t iron- I just consider myself someone that doesn’t iron. I am secure enough in my personal identity not to feel threatened by this ironing comment. Saying I don’t like ironing doesn’t mean I don’t think it is a worthwhile endeavor, it doesn’t even mean that I don’t iron (in fact I am about to), it just means of all of the things I can choose to do with my time, ironing isn’t high on the priority list.
My dislike for ironing doesn’t mean I am advocating shunning all household tasks, it doesn’t even mean that I am going to push them all off on Brian in the name of feminism and women’s liberation, it just means I hate ironing. There are some aspects of the June Cleaver persona that I have worked to maintain- the love of butter for one, a clean and organized home for another, and on the rare occasion the pearls (you know like for weddings and funerals).
Why in 2009 we are calling women bad wives and mothers because they choose to express dislike for one household chore, why in 2009 is Mrs. Smith’s laundry our business? Personally, I think there are larger problems facing the American public (have you seen what Congress is doing?), don’t we have more important things to worry about, like caring for our own families, building stronger communities, and working to maintain some order in this crazy world? Why do we as women see our neighbor’s dislike for one task as a character flaw on her part? Maybe this is a woman thing, maybe we tear each other down for the simple reason of justifying our actions- Mrs. Smith doesn’t iron and I do so it’s okay for me to feed Timmy and Susie McDonald’s tonight- is that why we do it? Or do we do it simply to prove to ourselves that we are doing a good job? Whatever the reason, why do we care about something so menial? Hm… well that’s it for now.
PS. I have 11 (yes 11) mosquito bites in a 2 inch area around my elbow- who knew there were so many bugs in Queens! Yes the purpose of this little section was to get you to feel bad for me,- I am just so darn itchy! (and yes I think I have malaria)
2 comments:
Um, I hate ironing as well. It's my least favorite household chore, yes I would rather scrub toilets than iron. And I haven't worn one of my shirts for a month now because it needs to be ironed and I brought limited clothing on this internship. Thanks for sharing my loathing for ironing.
I've been horrible about commenting lately! Sorry. But you have once again, successfully made Jared and I both laugh. I couldn't agree with you more on this one. Household chores...let's just say I do push a bunch on to Jared. Bless his heart he does so much. (thanks) but then also, I simply don't like to "put away clean laundry!" I don't like or enjoy ANY part of it! No thank you! Ironing...really, what is an iron? Besides ironing my linen skirts on Sundays, I don't pull it out. Except it was a waste of 5 minutes because in 30 seconds of the kids jumping on me it is wrinkled again! Yes, Jared is 30 years old...he can use it if he wants!
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