Like any feminist, when I first downloaded Sims 4, I was focused on providing intellectually stimulating career opportunities for my female Sim. I made sure she studied hard, climbed the corporate ladder, and emerged as a power player in the business world. However, I must confess that something has come over me recently. I no longer strive to make sure she performs well at work, but rather in the kitchen, where she belongs.
Gone are the days of performance evaluations and career fairs. Now, I focus on ensuring my Sim prepares a Michelin star meal every night for her breadwinning husband. While he’s out telling fortunes all day and raking in the dough, she’ll be home kneading actual dough for the airiest pumpernickel on Isla Paradiso. There better be a three-course dinner on the table by the time he walks through the door and calls, “Oh feebee lay!”
As the proud graduate of an all-girls school, this definitely isn’t the style of mothering I had envisioned for myself. Who am I to strip my smart, hardworking Sim of her agency and potential, reducing her to a mere Cooking Mama? Please believe me when I say that I never wanted to be the Phyllis Schlafly of the digital world.
I am distraught and ashamed of my behavior. To make amends, I am currently saving SimsPoints in hopes that I can one day send her to Sims University, where she will major in gender studies (with a concentration in food science).
