Dude.

I enjoy the antics at Cracked.com. Daily, even. They've got this goofy internet culture thing down, but often manage to be a little more involved and intelligent in their content. They've made swipes at sexism, racism, and even implemented the f-word.

But the article I read this morning bothered me, and revealed something that often rubs me the wrong way on Cracked and about internet culture (though that's hard to define) in general: the assumption of maleness.

Of the Dream Jobs that Would Actually Suck, "video game tester" and "brewmaster" may seem stereotypically masculine, but believe me, I know enough women that have considered these options. The #3 job, however, is "stay-at-home dad". This item makes some seemingly progressive points: stay-at-home parents deserve a three-figure salary and end up with squat. Of course, it then goes on to say that wives break up with their househusbands because nurturing is not sexy, and traditional gender roles preserve relationships. Without pointing out that the deal inverted still fucking sucks for stay-at-home moms, even if it's better for the relationship because of "instincts" (bullshit).

But the real problem is that this article assumes an all-male audience. I have enough headaches about people assuming that there's only two genders, but more and more I'm noticing instances that people only assume one. It goes both ways, of course- I realize that I assumed the Hollywood's Attempts at Feminism article above was written by a guy. Why did I assume that? Because male is the default, and female is a specialty. This should be news. But it's still as annoying.