It’s important that men learn domestic chores in order to become well-adjusted and self-sufficient individuals

I remember a rather confusing experience at my local laundromat in 2017. Everything was proceeding as normal until seemingly out of nowhere, a man that had to be twice my age approached me. I was intimidated until he uttered the words, “How do I use this?” 

I didn’t know whether to laugh or not. To this I simply replied, “The washing machine?” Giving an embarrassed smile, he rubbed his head and said, “I’ve never done this before.”

I decided to help him out, but in the back of my head I wondered how he could go his whole life not being able to do this. I’m not saying this applies to every man, but there are enough that it seems to be a problem. 

I personally am a huge advocate for men’s health; and a part of being an advocate is bettering ourselves in ways that involve going outside of our comfort zone. Some men seem to view domestic labor as beneath them or not worthy of their time. 

“Now that I think of it, I’ve never seen a man in our family do any kind of domestic labor in our household, it’s always been the women,” said freshman chemistry major Kevin Anzures. 

Lots of men aren’t alone in this particular circumstance. Another layer to this lack of labor equality is that it puts undue pressure on women to pick up the slack.

“I feel like there’s this unwritten expectation for me to do everything for a man when I eventually get into a relationship; and honestly, that annoys me,” said freshman health science major Hazel Longhini. 

I don’t particularly blame men as a whole because a lot of us simply aren’t raised to be domestic in any capacity. If men don’t learn domestic chores, it’s going to make becoming a well-adjusted person difficult.