Is the Househusband Becoming the Housewife?

I recently saw the Swiffer television commercial (above) that featured a little gender role reversal. While the husband mopped the floor, his wife relaxed nearby reading a magazine.

There was no suggestion that he was merely “helping” her with the housework. He seemed to be the person responsible for cleaning the floor, while she was perfectly content to let him get on with it.

We have certainly come a long way from the old television commercials in which the immaculately dressed housewife happily polished, scrubbed and mopped while her husband sat in his favorite chair. In those days, a man might occasionally make a mess, but it was always the woman’s job to clean it up.

Now the husband is holding the mop.

Naturally, this raises an important question: Where will advertising take gender role reversal next?

If the husband is going to perform the traditional housewife’s duties, perhaps advertisers will eventually decide that he should look the part. Instead of mopping in jeans and a T-shirt, he could wear a practical housedress, a freshly tied apron, hosiery and a comfortable pair of low heels. His hair could be held neatly in place with a scarf, and a little lipstick would help him look presentable while doing his chores.

Meanwhile, his wife could sit nearby in trousers, reading her magazine and occasionally reminding him that he missed a spot.

At first, such an advertisement would probably be presented as a joke. Viewers would laugh at the sight of a husband dressed like a stereotypical 1950s housewife. But advertising has a way of making the unusual seem ordinary. Show the same idea often enough, and before long nobody laughs or even gives it a second thought.

The apron becomes practical. The housedress becomes comfortable. The heels become surprisingly flattering. Soon the feminized househusband is no longer the punch line—he is the target customer.

Swiffer could even introduce a complete campaign featuring cheerful husbands exchanging housekeeping tips, comparing dresses and discussing which lipstick stays on best while doing the floors. Their wives would come home from work, admire the spotless house and compliment their husbands on how pretty they look.

Will one commercial showing a husband mopping the floor lead directly to husbands dressed as housewives?

Probably not.

But it is a start—and advertisers have already put the mop in his hands.

Now they only have to give him the housedress and heels.

Wearing Boston Proper

Femulating in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1984

Grocery Shopping

As a housewife, there are some chores I enjoy doing, some I am ambivalent about and some that I do not enjoy. At the top of my list of chores I dislike is grocery shopping, mainly because it is time-consuming – it basically kills a whole morning.

The only times I did not mind grocery shopping is when I shopped en femme. On those occasions, I was doing something else en femme and had to make a side trip for groceries.

For example, on one occasion, after attending a conference, I promised to pick up a few things on the way home.

During 15 minutes of going up and down the aisles of Stop & Shop, I noticed three or four guys checking me out, but no one else paid much attention to me until I queued up to check out. After I emptied my shopping cart onto the conveyor belt, I noticed the woman ahead of me look down at my shoes, a pair of nude pumps with 4-inch heels. Then she looked at me and remarked, “You are a brave woman to wear those heels to go grocery shopping!”

An episode like that puts grocery shopping in a new light! Perhaps, I should always go grocery shopping en femme.

Wearing JustFab

Patriotic chorus girl femulators in the 1943 film This Is the Army.
View the film here.

I am my own wife

Due to my wife's health issues, I have taken on many of the tasks usually performed by a housewife. I do the laundry, buy the groceries, do the vacuuming, wash the floors and the dishes (not at the same time) and perform any other cleaning duties, as needed.

I usually do not cook because I work full-time Monday through Friday, so by the time I get home from work, there is not enough time to prepare a meal and eat it before we go to bed. However, I imagine I will also be doing the cooking once I retire from my 9 to 5 job.

In many ways, I am my own wife. And I am pretty good at it. More than once, my spouse has praised me and added that I should have been the wife and mother in our family.

Whenever she says that I want to blurt out, "Not should have been... I am," but I bite my tongue to avoid making her feel bad about her physical disabilities.

Lucky that I am such a feminine guy. I imagine that many manly men would not cotton to performing womanly chores, but I am not bothered by it. When I was a youngster, I enjoyed helping my mother around the house doing the cleaning and laundry. She was my role model and I guess it was inevitable that I would make someone a good wife someday!

Wearing Temperley London.

Asifa Lahore, professional femulator

Over His Panties

 

 

Robert Gustavsson and Rickard Engfors femulating on Swedish television.

 

 

 

Wearing a dress I would love to wear!

Diary of a Male Housewife

Femulate is honored to post an excerpt from a forthcoming book, Diary of a Male Housewife, written by Jacqueline Andrews. In her soon-to-be published book, Jacqueline describes how a beta male found his niche in the 21st Century as a male housewife.

Clothing for Support

Although my outer wardrobe changes from day to day, what I wear underneath is very consistent: panty girdle and long-line bra. A transwoman who has lived full-time as a woman for nearly 20 years recommended this combination of underwear because those two foundation garments offer physical and psychological support.

The panty girdle flattens my front, keeps my boy parts tucked out of sight, rounds out my hips and derriere, and narrows my waistline. The bra pushes my boy boobs up and out to give me a small, but decidedly feminine bust. The bra also shapes the fat below my boobs and combined with the girdle, my physique is rearranged into a feminine figure.

Psychologically, wearing a bra sends feminine signals to my psyche that only a bra can transmit. Whereas fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg was quoted once proclaiming, "Feel like a woman. Wear a dress!" I prefer my friend Stana's proclamation, "Feel like a woman. Wear a bra!"

 

 

Actor Guillermo Díaz femulating in the 1995 film Stonewall.

 

 

 

Wearing Nina Ricci.

How to Keep Your House Hubby Happy

 

Layla and Caroline.

 

 

 

Wearing Le Redoute.

Wednesday’s Wash

I am now a housewife

My spouse's health has deteriorated to a point where she can no longer do some of the household chores she used to do. So, in addition to my full-time job, I now do the housekeeping that my spouse used to do.

I do the laundry, dust, vacuum, and perform most of the cleaning chores around the house. I have not cooked much since my college apartment-dwelling days, but I have begun cooking some of our meals, too.

Since I am now a housewife, I want to dress like a housewife, but I don't know any housewives who dress like Donna Stone!

Blame Godzilla, King of the Monsters

When I was young, I loved monsters and flying saucers. So it is no surprise that Sheb Wooley's novelty song Purple People Eater was number one on my hit parade when it came out in 1958.

In the ensuing 55 years, I never heard anyone else sing that song… until yesterday. I was visiting Peter Lappin's blog and discovered a version sung by Judy Garland (I kid you not).

Here's the link --- the song is at the end of the blog post.

 

A femulator, circa 2007.

 

Wearing Opening Ceremony.