Something a journalist said on Twitter caught my attention a few days ago. I even had the pleasure of this person “favoriting” my response to the situation – while everyone else in the BIG media company the journalist worked for received 10 weeks of parental leave after the birth of a baby, this particular parent was eligible for only 2 weeks. Why?
Because he is the biological father! http://joshlevs.tumblr.com/post/65567442495/why-ive-filed-an-eeoc-charge-against-time-warner
It’s strange that the parental leave policy at Time Warner does not discriminate against same-sex couples having a baby, they get 10 weeks of paid leave, each person. Adoption, surrogacy, no problem. The 10 week policy applies to any new adoptive or surrogate parent, man or woman. But this is their third child, and Josh just couldn’t get the company to budge. So he had to sue, because sometimes a challenge in court is what it takes to right an obvious wrong. Here is what one of his lawyer’s said:
Time Warner’s excuse for treating biological fathers differently than mothers is that women experience a period of medical disability associated with child birth. While this sounds reasonable at first blush, the rationale does not square with the 10 weeks given to adoptive parents who require no medical recovery time. Moreover, biological mothers receive the 10 weeks of maternity leave IN ADDITION to their full short-term disability benefits.
Then I just happened to bump into this guy, Joss Whedon, who starts ranting about feminists and comparing the word to the word taliban. Oh you know I was interested. “I hate feminists,” he says, and he begins dissecting the word; a wordsmith who actually made me rethink my relationship with Gloria Steinem and NOW. http://www.upworthy.com/a-room-full-of-feminists-just-applauded-a-guy-who-attacked-feminists-wait-for-it-re2-7a?c=ucfb1 Thank you Rebecca Eisenberg for bringing this discussion to light!
It seems that even rich, white guys can be discriminated against. In this post-feminist, “genderist” world I hope that Josh Levs rallies men and women and transgenders to his cause equally. Because our newborn babies deserve as much time and love as our corporations can deliver under the law. Because we old “feminists” taught our sons well; now it’s high time Madame Justice took off her blindfold.
MountainMornings 
Yes, I’m proud that I think I raised good fathers and husbands. And babies need all the love they can get.
exactly Lisa! fathers today are finally getting it, you don’t show up in a kid’s life as a teenager and start demanding devotion.
I’d love to watch Josh Levs ‘equal-parentage’ lawsuit go all the way to the Supreme Court so it would become the law of the land.
On the word “feminist” – Joss Whedon’s dissection of the word is so thoughtfully presented, it is well worth listening to more than once. Thank you for sharing the link, Chris. I believe he’s given us a very good word to encapsulate a sick belief in one human’s superiority over another human – “genderist.” Yes, indeed. It fits.
Thanks again, Chris.
You are welcome Patti! Sometimes I think we should just get all our news from Upworthy and TedX 🙂 It’s hard for our generation to give up the feminist fight, but I think he makes a compelling argument