Men are damaged by how dads are portrayed on sitcoms

I do, too. The idiot dad stereotype structures both the expectations mothers have of the fathers of their children, and how men see their own role within the family. Significantly, as The Atlantic has charted in multiple stories over the past couple years: if we want gender equality, men have to step up as parents to free up their partners as workers. And not when the kids are teenagers, but when they’re babies. 

“What I’ve noticed in my own life and among my friends,” Oppenheimer said. “The men who’ve spent a good deal of time with their kids—maybe not as much as their wives, but a good deal of time—there is a seamless transition as the kids grow up. They develop a competency that they are proud of and that stays with them.”