"A Woman Can Never Take The Place Of A Father." I Would Like To Challenge This...

This is a phrase I have heard all my life. I grew up without a Father figure in my life. Granted, there were some things to work around, however, I learned to become a man from my Mother. I dislike the idea that only men can teach other men. It is just plain hogwash. Even in "traditional" homes where the woman stays at home pining over her husbands happiness and comfort, the children learn from their Mother. This is because the man is gone and asleep for literally 66% of the children's life (24 hrs in a day, work is 9 hrs, sleep is around 7 hrs., this leaves 8 hours for all other activities). Besides that fact, this also means that masculinity is only men's and femininity is only women's. This I also believe to be hogwash. Masculinity is not a genetic predisposition. It is a learned and mimicked behavior. Masculinity is what is EXPECTED of a young boy. It is NOT necessarily what he/she actually is. I know for a fact that women are just as capable of raising a boy as a girl. Also a man is just as capable of raising a young woman. Gender roles need to be redefined by us. That is what I find so special about the LGBT movement, we are unafraid to challenge the status quo. Societal "norms" are constantly evolving. As is proof with the feminist movement that has been battled for the past 60+ years and still rages on. Or the civil rights movement which still rages on. The roles of men and women are also evolving. Men are not limited to lives of dominance and anger. Women are not limited by the ridiculousness of subservience. Either there is all equality or their is no equality. With Love Jeff Utnage