The tv show "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" is known for being an anti-sitcom. In each episode, characters typically do not learn any lessons and there is a complete absence of the love that binds the characters through thick and thin. They are just horrible, crazy people.
In season 3, episode 1, "The Gang Finds a Dumpster Baby," Dennis, Mac, and Dee find a baby in a dumpster and Mac asserts that it is his and Dee's responsibility to care for. When Dee says she does not want to care for the baby, Mac explains that people like Dee are ruining the country and that family values need to be respected.
Women are often forced by cultural values to one day assume the role of the mother, and in this case, Mac is literally forcing Dee to be a mother. He believes there are "roles that need to be filled here" and tells Dee that the baby is sure to get AIDS if she does not participate in mothering this child, something she had nothing to do with. This is like how women that do not want families are demonized when they also had nothing to do with the creation of the social norm that tries to force them into that role.
In the first scene of Mac and Dee caring for the baby, named Dumpster Baby, Mac is already accusing Dee of being a bad mother. He criticizes her for not having enough beer, for raising her voice to him when she is upset he is not helping, and tries to leave for the bar to blow off steam after he must deal with her nagging. Mac is completely oblivious to his role of the father that he, unlike Dee, volunteered for. The disparity between expectations for mothers and fathers is extremely prevalent in society and Mac perfectly exemplifies the father that does not father.
Women are forced to mother because they are held to a lower rank in society and often cannot force men to be fathers. Someone must raise the children. But when a woman decides this is not what she wants to do, she is criticized much more than a man that does not want to be a father. "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" characterizes this predicament well and seeks to convey the hypocrisy of parental expectations in this episode.
Great post! I think it's simply absurd that in 2017 women are still catching slack for not wanting to be mothers. Women are constantly demonized for decisions they make about their body. Who am I to tell someone they're wrong for not wanting to do something. Men love to dump the burden of parenting on women, but lack the desire to claim responsibility. As someone who doesn't have the desire to get married and have children I feel the need to constantly defend myself. Why is it a bad thing if a woman aspires for further ambition than to just be a mother. Not that there is anything wrong with wanting to be a mother but everyone is different. We live in this "free" country with the right to do and be whatever we want yet we can't do what we want without being critiqued.
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