The show brings up a lot of different thoughts about past and present gender roles, and I think it makes women come to terms with history and previous obligations to fulfill the role of wife, mother, career woman, housekeeper and "man pleaser".

In 2009, many women and men are still pursuing the seeming traditional, nuclear family, but also a desire for new, expanded definitions for what a husband and wife means. This is particularly astute with same-sex marriage, where the question becomes even more elusive. Who is the husband, who is the wife and what does that all mean?

In today's New York Time's Modern Love column, Sara Sarasohn, explores exactly that question about the concept of wifedom in gay marriage. She writes:

I want to broaden the meaning of “wife.” When I call Ellen my wife I don’t want to mean that she is simply the chore-doer but that she’s the guiding intelligence behind her half of our household. Ellen doesn’t take care of the children the way I would, not by a[...]

[Published in NonProfitBlogs - Read the original article]