"while the woman has her nervous breakdown"

I teach writing in, as multiple studies have shown, the most politically and socially conservative town in the country. Incidentally, it has been listed as one of the best places to raise a child. The incongruities there are too much for me to handle. I've been grading a set of papers for my classes for what feels like an eternity. One of the possible assignments was for the student to read an article that discusses research that has shown that men experience hormonal shifts when their intimate partner is pregnant. Amazingly, this topic has encouraged a terrifying range of forums for beliefs about gender roles to be aired. I promised myself that this morning I would just grade away and not even look at blogs, but here I am. This is a portion of a paper written by a young, smart woman who is outgoing and enjoyable in class:

I believe that God has made men and women's personalities complementary to one another. One complementary contribution of the man is logic. Men are very realistic and to-the-point; they say it like it is. A woman, on the other hand, worries about superficial things such as how big she's getting (when pregnant) or how much change is happening in her personal appearance. The man's more realistic and less emotional side will make sure that necessary steps are taken to keep the household running while the woman has her emotional breakdown (meaning pregnancy).

I actually sort of want to cry. If this were the only paper of its kind, maybe tears wouldn't be necessary. Sadly, this is the overwhelming sentiment by men and women in my classes.

Back to grading.