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Nelly Bryce's avatar

I wish it was a message to men to take their parental responsibilities seriously. A positive move by a man showing the juggle of work and childcare. I think we all know that's unlikely to be the case. I actually find it really chilling. It makes me feel very uncomfortable. My worst fear is that it's the sending of a message (threat) to women, in particular mothers. Although I guess it's most likely just a latest play thing idea in the funhouse of horrors. Thank you. I've tentatively lined up the podcast to listen to.

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Michelle Neeling's avatar

Years ago some friends took me to a comedy club in London for my birthday, and we found ourselves in the company of a gathering of men from Fathers 4 Justice. (Does that organisation still exist? If not, do you remember it? It was a bunch of men who dressed as superheroes and performed stunts like climbing onto Buckingham Palace to try to persuade the courts to give them greater access to their children...) After the gig we all got chatting, and I remember thinking that this odious bunch of entitled, bitter, misogynistic man-children should be kept as far away from kids as possible. There wasn't a nurturing air about any of them, just an ominous sense that there were no limits to what they'd do to enact revenge on the women who'd dared to walk away from them.

I get that same air from Elon Musk. The White House is his Buckingham Palace, and his kid is the superhero prop he's using to gain attention. The terrifying difference is that he's not having to break in. He's being invited to use the world's highest office to broadcast his misogyny. And sadly, if we keep following this trajectory, the kid currently telling the president to shut his mouth and go away has every chance of ending up in the hot seat in the Oval Office himself. And yes, the actual woman who birthed this child, who seems to be crying out for access to him, has been deemed irrelevant. This is truly terrifying stuff.

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