Mother, Father

My mother majored in philosophy to get back at her dad for sending her to her safety school instead of one of the great colleges she got into.

She married and had kids pretty young (she was 27 when she had me) and was starting her career in marketing. At some point when I was maybe 8 or 9, she started her own company from the office at home. As far as I know, my father was supportive. 

Now, her company is extremely successful and she is an accomplished euntrepenuer.

But that’s not all she does. Besides having two kids and a full time job running her company, she is also an actively competing ball room dancer. That’s right. My mother has won the national pro/am (professional/ametuer) dance competition two years in a row.

My father grew up in Israel and is the oldest of six. Most of his family are males. Most of my cousins are males as well. I guess it just runs in the family. 

When my mother was pregnant with me, he was CONVINCED that I was going to be a boy (despite the fact that my sex was not a surprise…)

My dad is your typical Israeli misogynistic douche bag. I love him, but he’s extremely insensitive. Being an ex-army guy, he always has to be tough. And he always has to objectify and make assumptions about women. For  example, my dad, my younger brother and I were in car. Even though I was listening to music, I could clearly hear that they were discussing girls who work at Hooters. Then I heard my dad jokingly say that I should go work there. Needless to say, I didn’t think it was funny.

I think you get the picture.

My mother and father are now divorced for reasons which are pretty obvious to me. My mother followed her dreams, my father who did support her, wanted someone or something different. Also, he doesn’t respect women.

I feel bad for him though because the divorce did not help how he feels about women. If anything, it made him more of a misogynist.

Misogynist: hatred, dislike, or mistrust of women.

While watching the film, Who Does SHe Think She Is one of the interviewees mentioned something about household chores and how in her house it wasn’t split up like: the girls do the dishes and the boys do outdoor work. My house is the opposite. My little brother complains to this day about how my father never makes me carry anything heavy or do hardy handy work. If he delegates chores, I’m in the kitchen, I’m cooking, I’m weeding the backyard.

My father LOVES my brother. He loves me too, but when they are together it’s absolutely disgusting. My father will turn to my brother and say “hey didja see the tits on that girl?”. Whenever we’re out to dinner, my father flirts with the waitress, and my brother follows suit. 

My father and I have had plenty of struggles in the past, but things are better now that I demand respect from him. For awhile I felt that I had to prove myself to him. 

I’m happy that I grew up with both sides. On one side I have my mother who is a career woman, definitely doesn’t need a man, and always supported me and my creative abilities, and on the other side I have my poor father who goes through women like a hormonal teenage girl goes through tissues, objectifies and disrespects women and definitely doesn’t see much potential in me or my future in the film industry. That situation has made me a very strong person.