If there are three adjectives I have never considered pairing with a father carrying his baby in a cosy carrier, it would be this trio.
There is broad consensus among women, particularly mothers, that there is little as genuinely appealing, attractive and useful as a father snuggling his baby.
There is broad consensus too, among a great number of parents, that any contraption that allows you to securely soothe, comfort and carry a newborn with your arms free is the single greatest invention for parents since the epidural. It is a unique piece of baby paraphernalia that genuinely pays for itself.
Of course Piers Morgan would describe this as ‘virtue-signalling’.
For some, seeing a father carrying his own baby is not even noteworthy. It’s parenting. An ordinary fact of life.
Not for Piers Morgan, the British broadcaster, columnist and professional provocateur. He has sparked a global furore by openly mocking actor Daniel Craig for wearing his baby in a papoose.
Oh 007.. not you as well?!!! #papoose #emasculatedBond pic.twitter.com/cqWiCRCFt3
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) October 15, 2018
I wish this was a joke. I hoped – and assumed – it was when I first saw Morgan’s tweet.
Sadly it wasn’t. It turns out that he hates papooses – an American term for a baby carrier – with a venom that is genuinely difficult to fathom. Of all the gripes in this world he chooses to stew over baby bjorns?
I just expressed a genuinely held opinion that papooses are emasculating, embarrassing & unnecessary – and the virtue-signalling world’s gone bonkers. https://t.co/EvPJFPVBiz
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) October 16, 2018
Unsurprisingly his ‘dad-shaming’ tweet lit up social media. Dads the world over – including many famous faces – responded by sharing images of themselves carrying their own babies.
“You really have to be so uncertain of your own masculinity to concern yourself with how another man carries his child,” Hollywood star Chris Evans wrote. “Any man who wastes time quantifying masculinity is terrified on the inside.”
Come on @piersmorgan, bring it on! See you tomorrow @GMB #DanielCraig pic.twitter.com/VIjxgJPeiX
— Ross Kemp (@RossKemp) October 16, 2018
Piers Morgan doesn’t think real men wear babies. He’s right. Real men wear two babies. pic.twitter.com/FHbZZJz0Pp
— Robert Perry (Pez) (@pez_sez) October 16, 2018
My wife carried my son for 37 weeks. I proudly carried him around the block. #fatherhood #babywearingdad pic.twitter.com/8QSRhQ3vC0
— Matthew Peña (@matthewipena) October 16, 2018
Naturally, in an entirely predictable turn of events Morgan has dismissed the response to “papoose-gate” as ridiculous, “shrieking” and proof the world has gone mad.
There is solace in the swift reaction Morgan’s suggestion attracted but it is tempered by the fact Morgan is the one with 6.5 million followers on social media and the influential platform of co-hosting a major breakfast show. His views are outdated, yes, but sadly he is not irrelevant.
Things you can do and still be a man:
– hold a baby
– look after a baby
– wash up
– cry
– have actual human feelings
– care about people
– support the rights of women
– go a whole day without banter
– ask for helpIt’s almost like your gender doesn’t have to be a prison.
— Matt Haig (@matthaig1) October 16, 2018
The good news is that his co-star, Susanna Reid, who shares a desk with Morgan on Good Morning Britain five mornings a week is not open to humouring him.
No woman has an issue with a man carrying a baby in a papoose.
This is YOUR issue. https://t.co/bAaItvVizP
— Susanna Reid (@susannareid100) October 15, 2018