Where are the Clair Huxtables You Ask?

I find it incredibly humorous when 21st century men ask where the Clair Huxtable women are today. My best friend says "where are the Clair Huxtable's of today, you ask? Well, if you were a Cliff Huxtable then you would know." LOL. I couldn't have said it any better.

I'm feeling very 'wholesome' right now so I decided to download The Cosby Show seasons from Netflix. While I was watching, I felt compelled to follow the communication/relationship between Cliff and Clair to see what is so "special" about the way that she handles her man...because as wonderful as a woman that Clair is, I feel that men are in love with her for stereotypical reasons (successful, can cook, housekeeping, motherly, sexy, etc) and wouldn't find her to be any more 'tolerable' than us 21st century women...lets take a look.

Most episodes are of Clair sitting at home, cooking or reading a magazine or book. She is a stern mother, good mother, but has a very formal relationship with her children...barely inquiring of their personal interests until a problem arises. Cliff on the other hand is seen going out of his way to talk to his children on a personal level about their likes and dislikes; entertaining them with games, jokes and stories. She addresses her family in very condescending, challenging tones most times and in nearly every episode spends most of her airtime making requests or demands of her husband who humbly submits. Lets take a look at season 6, episode 10...

Season 6: Episode 10

• Its storming on Thanksgiving Day and Clair, realizing that she's missing certain ingredients for Thanksgiving dinner, sends Cliff out in the storm to the store. When Cliff returns, he begins to gripe that the only open store was some market 20 miles out with lines for days. Clair's response was not "thank you" or "aw you poor thing" but instead was "Cliff, you forgot the canned pumpkin for the pumpkin pie, eggs for the cornbread and you also forgot the nutmeg." Cliff exclaims "but sweetheart, i see that you're already making sweet potato pie. We don't need two types of pie. He then pulls a bottle of nutmeg from the spices rack and hands it to Clair saying "and here is a bottle of nutmeg right here." Clair then takes the nutmeg from Cliff and tosses it into the trash saying "but Cliff, that is not fresh nutmeg." She then opens the door for Cliff to go back out. Needless to say, Cliff screws up the grocery order again, having to run in and out of the house 2 more times. When Cliff makes it back home the final time with the correct groceries, he sees that the cornbread has been prepared and is sitting on the dinner table. He asks Clair "how did you make cornbread without eggs" and she responds "well honey, I just borrowed them from next door."

Now lets discuss this...in bullet points

• If I ask you to go grocery shopping for me, 'yes' will be the last thing that escapes your lips. And on a holiday? When it is storming outside?! PLLLEASEE


• If I was missing ingredients for certain dishes, I guarantee you that you will tell me to just take the dishes off of the menu


• I bet you a dollar per mile that I cant get you to drive 20 miles to a grocery store for me


• Let me take grocery bags from you and not say thank you...just let me


• You're ok with me sending you out in the storm so that I an have 2 pies and not one?


• The nutmeg from my spices rack isn't fresh enough? Really??


• You wont run the same errand twice. You wont.

My favorite incident was when Clair comes home, clearly upset about her day. Cliff pulls her aside and asks her of her troubles. She explains what her day was like and once consoling her says "let me tell you about my day." Clair responds with "honey, not right now. I don't really want to discuss anything after the day I have had." And Cliff says "but sweetheart, I listened to your troubles about today." Clair says "but I didn't ask you to." Everyone in the audience laughed and laughed. But if that happened in real life-it wouldn't be funny at all. I'm sure that the conversation would have went a lot differently.

A woman like Clair Huxtable will not take "no" for an answer when she makes a request from you. A woman like Clair Huxtable would not tolerate a man using foul language when speaking to her. A woman like Clair Huxtable will not settle for a man who does not contribute. Whether or not you 21st century men feel that Clair Huxtable has solid reason to have ares/airs about herself, you are not nearly strong enough or secure enough to handle a woman expecting more from you than you expect of yourself. -Done-