Piers Morgan's tweet has just raised the bar for absolute fuckwittery to epic levels. The broadcaster took to Twitter to mock Daniel Craig for carrying his baby in an infant carrier/sling, using the hashtag #EmasculatedBond
I hate that I’m even bothering to give these childish comments air… much like most of what comes out of toxic mouthpiece Katie Hopkins mouth, Morgan’s loaded tweet is something so stupid, giving it more air seems wrong.
And yet, I can’t let it rest. To me, his tweet says far more about the man’s own insecurities than it does about the topic he’s trying to raise… although just what that topic is I do not know?
Is it that you’re less of a man if you carry your baby? Only women carry babies is that it? Oh no wait, he went on to clarify that it was the baby carrier and Daniel Craig wearing his baby on his body that he took issue with. Something… about real men use their hands etc., etc.
Berk Alert!!!!!!
Cue millions of tweets from proud fathers showing pictures of them carrying their kids in baby carriers.
So if nothing else, his moronic commentary on modern dads has a positive effect.
On a serious note though, Morgan’s comments strike at the heart of modern parenting and gender roles. I often hate how society celebrates dads for changing a nappy or simply going to the park with their own kids, when the same thing is just expected of a mother – never celebrated.
Why do we look at a dad in the supermarket with his ‘tantruming’ toddler and say oh what a great dad, doing the shopping and dealing with a meltdown. No one would pass the same celebratory comments for a mother doing the exact same thing. Why do we have to pull out the brass band because a dad has just been... well a normal dad!? He hasn’t just invented the cure for cancer… he’s just doing a normal thing any parent does on a daily basis! Similarly, why would we berate a dad for doing something normal like carrying their child in a sling???
Traditional gender roles in parenting still loom large and comments like Morgan’s do nothing to help the situation.
Real dads carry their kids however the hell they need to – be it with their hands, in a carrier, in a pram, upside down by their ankles…!
The truth is, a real father gets stuck in and does whatever is necessary to look after and love their child, just like a mother would. Be it dealing with a poonami in a supermarket, carrying their child in a baby carrier, letting them fall asleep on you, getting up in the middle of the night to deal with a nightmare, bringing them to the park, reading stories, dressing them, feeding them, and running around pulling silly faces.
Parents, parent their kids. Every day. It’s the most challenging, life-changing, amazing thing we’ll ever do. And calling out one gender for doing something like wearing their baby is ludicrous.
We should be supporting each other and while I abhor this glorifying of dads for doing the basics, on this occasion, I'm going to say kudos to Daniel Craig, but I'm also going to say it to all the other mums and dads out there who’ve donned the baby carrier, my own hubby included, don’t stop because of one insecure man’s comments...