A more complete thought

I came home from the Utah Football game and reread my last post. I may have not said exactly what I wanted to say the way I wanted to say it.

First and foremost, the Mormon religion is not my religion (obviously), and normally I am rather apathetic to personal belief systems because they are personal. Utah is different though. Unfortunately Mormon theology and practice infiltrates my life even if I don't want it to. It is part of living here. I have generally come to accept this aspect of my life.

When something like this comes along (women having to be mothers and nurtures with perfect, spotless houses and kids), my first thought is to ignore it like I do normally, but with this one topic, it really puts a burr under my skin because it also breeds a system of morality and culture that I will and do have to live under. With 60% LDS living in Utah, that means I have a good chance of working with or for someone who is LDS, maybe a man who is active that feels that all women should be home having babies and keeping house, or a woman who finds my lack of children to be offensive. I know it sounds extreme, but this place can be extreme at times. This does build a rather stressful situation for someone like me. And that is just at the small end of the spectrum. How do these ideas infiltrate policies and laws? Most members of the State House are....you guessed it....Mormon men. So as much as I would rather not have an opinion on anything relating to the LDS church, I cannot live with my head in the sand. I am confronted with the church and church dogma almost on a daily bases not because I look for it, but because it is everywhere and in most everyplace in some form or another. Sure I could move, but I like it here outside of the "moral" authority and majority. No place is absolutely perfect.

I also wonder what men think about this idea of being married to June Cleaver? Most men want their wives to work outside the home not only for extra money, but the self-confidence it can bring and a sense of purpose outside the home. What about men that are nurturers, maybe even more so than their wives? What if aDad wants to stay home and be the stay at home parent while the wife brings home the bacon? Isn't this sexism times two?
I, for one, am not allowed to iron clothes. Why? Because I am bad at it and could care less about improving my skills. Larry, however, trained by the Marine Corps, can get a shirt so stiff he can bounce a quarter off of it. So he does the ironing.
I think traditional roles are great if that is what one wants, but why should that be all folks are limited to?