I heard that Bill Maher said something funny about Ann Romney. And by "funny" I mean "rude". So I looked it up:
“But what [Hillary Rosen] meant to say, I think, was that Ann Romney has never gotten her ass out of the house to work,” Maher said. “No one’s denying that being a mother is a tough job — I remember that I was a handful. OK, but there is a big difference in being a mother in that tough job, and getting your ass out of the door at 7 a.m. when it’s cold, having to deal with the boss, being in a workplace, and even if you’re unhappy you can’t show it for eight hours, that is a different kind of tough thing, isn’t it?”
Now, I'll give him a little credit, working outside the home is a different sort of tough thing than being a mother. For example, when I go to work I'm never expected to wipe noses, clean up vomit, or change stinky diapers. I definitely came out ahead with my choice of profession.
I've heard a lot of outrage over his comments. Not nearly as much as when Rush Limbaugh called Sarah Fluke a slut or a prostitute, but outrage nonetheless. But is Ann Romney the only target of Maher's comments?
- "Ann Romney has never gotten her ass out of the house to work" Is that even true? Did she ever take kids to school or church activities? Was she a soccer mom? I don't know what she did, but to suggest she never left the house in the exercise of her responsibilities seems a little far fetched. Other people endure different kinds of tough things, like:
- "Getting your ass out of the door at 7 a.m. ..." If you work swing shift or graveyard or some other kind of job (anything but a white collar job) that does not having you leaving the house at 7 a.m. then you don't really work, according to Bill Maher.
- "... when it's cold ..." If you live in a semi-tropical location with consistent beautiful weather, you don't really work.
- "... having to deal with the boss ..." If you are a boss (isn't Bill Maher an executive producer?) then you don't really work.
- "... being in a workplace ..." If you are a telecommuter, you don't really work. Emergency responders must not really work either, what with being out in the weather away from what most people would think of as a work place, keeping the streets safe, fighting fires, saving lives, and so on.
- "... if you're unhappy you can't show it ..." Naturally happy, upbeat people must not really work either.
- "... for eight hours ..." If you work part time, you don't have a real job. Or if you have some sort of odd schedule that keeps you working for more than eight hours (like the previously mentioned emergency responders, not to mention military personnel) then you don't have a real job.
I really do get what Bill Maher was trying to say. Being a full time stay at home mom is a lot different than working a white collar, 9 to 5 job when it is a little chilly outside, dealing with a boss that doesn't get it, stuck in one place for 8 hours at a stretch, having to put on a happy face until the end of the day when you can cut loose.
No, being a full time mom means never having any white clothes (much less a white collar) after cleaning up all the biological (and other) messes, being on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, working in scorching heat or freezing cold depending on what the weather and demands on your schedule are, dealing with multiple "bosses" (if you have multiple children, as each are making demands on your time, and none of whom understand just how much you're sacrificing for them), often stuck at home all day for days on end, and only getting to cut loose after approximately 18 years have passed.
Being a full time stay at home mom is tough, but a different kind of tough. We don't appreciate just how tough people like Bill Maher really have it. Next time you see Bill Maher, buy him a cup of coffee. Then throw it in his face.
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