I hate the term "baby daddy." I hold nothing but the utmost contempt for the word and the fact that it has so thoroughly infiltrated our culture. Among several flaws with the term, the greatest, I feel, is that it is generally a prescriptive--rather than descriptive--label. And yet at the same time I must respect the concept behind the term; no other word in the English language picks out the specific set of criteria that "baby daddy" picks out. The need for such a word (though I should want for one that is less slang and more connotatively neutral) is significant if we are to accurately and--more importantly--honestly describe ourselves. Especially here in America, the nature of our relationships is blurring and evolving all the time: our definitions for family, interpersonal relationships, and even our selves are in constant flux.
It has become quite apparent that he status of the American family is in upheaval (not turmoil or jeopardy as many would have you believe). The concept of a family unit being strictly isolated to a mother, father, and 2.5 children seems, at times, as easy to find nowadays as a car phone or a dot matrix printer. However, despite this shift, the expectations that a family "should" be comprised of a wed man and wife as well as the children they have produced together is still persistent, even among many people whose family structure does not match this ideal.
Maybe if we were more informed about all the various ways a family can look, if we gave ourselves the language to honestly describe ourselves, we might not be so quick to bite and snarl at people whose differences would otherwise seem like "an attack on the institution of the American Family."
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