Rosie's View of Mannies

[JamieN]

My partner, a male nanny, and I are now hesitating about reserving a cruise. Rosie seems to have a bias against men, gay or straight. Are we going to be uncomfortable on this cruise because we're two men who don't have children, but are obviously going to be around children?

We have an unfortunate feeling that there is a bias against men and sexual profiling by your cruise line. If so, I think all men should boycott trips sponsored by r family.

[Crazy aka Cheryl]

My partner, a male nanny, and I are now hesitating about reserving a cruise. Rosie seems to have a bias against men, gay or straight. Are we going to be uncomfortable on this cruise because we're two men who don't have children, but are obviously going to be around children?

We have an unfortunate feeling that there is a bias against men and sexual profiling by your cruise line. If so, I think all men should boycott trips sponsored by r family.
That could not be farther from the truth. All are welcome.
I have been on all 4 cruises and there is a mix of everyone from "OUR" community
Single guys without children,Gay men without children,transgener,Lesbians with without children.
Straight people. All are welcome. You should come it is a fantastic time.
It is the one place in this crazy world where
ALL are excepted as they are without anybody treated different.
Inclusive welcomed aceppted.Unity in our community at is purest form.
As far as the bias against Gay men with no children.
Gregg founding partner is a Gay man married to Dan no kids.
You should take the plunge. It will be the best vacation you ever had!
Have you seen the Documentary ALL ABOARD?
If not you should see it.
Come you are welcome.
I shall buy you drink at the poolside kickoff party
You wont be able to miss me.I will be the that looks like one big FLAG. LOL
just holler hey Crazy I will answer!

[2DadsnAnaheim]

After reading this thread, I felt that I needed to responsd to the comments being said about Rosie and what she said about mannie.

I can tell you that we as 2 men with kids were treated the same as any of the other passengers on board the Cruise. What I can also tell you is there were alot of couple (male male and female female ) on this last cruise, after speaking with them I found out that they were treated the same as we were. Don't let words that might have been taken out of content for any reaon stop you from coming on the Cruise and experiencing it yourself.

It is truly a enjoyable time filled with Laughter, Love, Understanding, and Acceptance. You will feel a sense of Family while you are on board the Cruise. Our Family can't wait to go on our next Cruise with RFamily Vacations and alot of our single Female and Male friends want to come along as well with us. We have nothing but Praise to say about RFamily Vacations and Rosie, Kelly and Gregg and the RFamily Crew. They went above and beyond to make our Cruise a rememorable, one that we will not forget for some time to come.

Go on the Cruise and experience it for you self, who knows you might even get to ask Rosie what she meant by those comments yourself.

[Crazy aka Cheryl]

After reading this thread, I felt that I needed to responsd to the comments being said about Rosie and what she said about mannie.

I can tell you that we as 2 men with kids were treated the same as any of the other passengers on board the Cruise. What I can also tell you is there were alot of couple (male male and female female ) on this last cruise, after speaking with them I found out that they were treated the same as we were. Don't let words that might have been taken out of content for any reaon stop you from coming on the Cruise and experiencing it yourself.

It is truly a enjoyable time filled with Laughter, Love, Understanding, and Acceptance. You will feel a sense of Family while you are on board the Cruise. Our Family can't wait to go on our next Cruise with RFamily Vacations and alot of our single Female and Male friends want to come along as well with us. We have nothing but Praise to say about RFamily Vacations and Rosie, Kelly and Gregg and the RFamily Crew. They went above and beyond to make our Cruise a rememorable, one that we will not forget for some time to come.

Go on the Cruise and experience it for you self, who knows you might even get to ask Rosie what she meant by those comments yourself.
Hi Guys hope all is well!
C

[PinkRibbonAmy]

I'm haven't seen any indication that Rosie is prejudice against men. She was only trying to say that most KNOWN sex offenders are male, only about 10% female. Most nannies are female, I don't know the stats for that but I would guess upwards of 90%. Since sex offenders often gravitate towards jobs where they can be around kids, mathematically the odds are that a manny would likely be one than a female one. Now since a good proportion of sex crimes go unreported, the numbers may be off.
One of the people who runs R-family is a man, Greg and I'm sure he could reassure you about Rosie and the cruise. I was on the land weekend in Philly and there were male couples w/o kids and no one batted an eye. I went by myself and I don't have kids, and I had the best time of my life. I just love being around families and kids. Please try not to generalize Rosie's comments to mean anything more than she's more comfortable having a female nanny than a manny.
Expect the best and you won't be disappointed.

[JKLVirginia]

We're two dads with a young son and went on the Alaska cruise last summer with R Family. Trust us, there's no anti-man sentiment onboard!!!!! We had a wonderful time.

As for Rosie's comments, she's a public figure, she has strong opinions, and perhaps sometimes, like anyone, she speaks off the cuff and **** the consequences.

I disagree with her comment about mannies but she's right on the statistics about sexual abuse of kids, unfortunately.

Fortunately, in our day to day life, we've yet to encounter comments about men being unable to nurture kids.

Lee

[beatriz]

It is my opinion not to take Rosie's comments personally. If you and your partner are wonderful fathers, efficient male nanny's, loving uncles, let's celebrate it and keep working every instant to be even better ones.

The statistics are out there, and there are occurrences of child molestations performed by female care takers but they seem to be very low or not reported. I leave a quote from Wikipedia: "Offenders are more likely to be relatives or acquaintances of their victim than strangers.[46] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_sexual_abuse#_note-39) The percentage of incidents of sexual abuse by female perpetrators that come to the attention of the legal system is usually reported to be between 1% and 4%.[47] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_sexual_abuse#_note-40) Historically, most researchers have reported that men have a virtual "monolopy" on child sexual abuse but studies of sexual misconduct in US schools female sex offenders have showed mixed results with rates between 4% to 43% of female offenders.[48] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_sexual_abuse#_note-Shakeshaft25) In U.S. schools, educators who offend range in age from "21- to 75-years-old, with an average age of 28" with teachers, coaches, substitute teachers, bus drivers and teacher's aids (in that order) totaling 69% of the offenders.[49] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_sexual_abuse#_note-41)"

Personally, as I'm sure you would too, I would take "little" to no risk with whom takes care of my child. We know we can not be in control of everything, so when leaving the kids in school or in any other place where they are "on their own" we surrender ourselves to a higher force so that the kids keep safe. As a society we have to work together, educate ourselves well, love and care for each other constantly so that we can minimize and eradicate child molestation or any type of molestation for that matter (sounds impossible uh? we must work hard).

I don't believe Rosie needs me or anyone to defend her believes and opinions. But I think it is important when one lives in a community to make ideas clear so that we can evolve and stay away from getting stuck in the dark and negative vicious circles. As men you can keep working on being the best child care taker, and nurturer there is, be happy about it, celebrate every good choice you make for your children while you raise them, and learn from the bad ones, work hard. We, as women have had to (and still do) to prove out ourselves in field that have been considered only of male mastery.

"Never let the odds keep you from doing what you know in your heart you were meant to do." H. Jackson Brown Jr.

And please forgive my imperfect thoughts. I am still learning to be brief :D

[LICubRN]

I'm a little bit hurt by the comment made my Rosie. I happen to be a pediatric nurse, and I happen to be male, and it hurts when parents reject my nursing care solely because I'm a man. I'm not going to be the same nurse that a woman would be.... men and women parent differently and play with their children differently. The same goes for nannies and mannies and male pediatric nurses and female pediatric nurses. We are all different in how we interact with children... however I think we all provide the same safe and appropriate care that children require. Why people cant see that is beyond me.

In any case, I'll be on the cruise with my partner. We are childless right now (unless you count our two dogs and two cats) but as I said, Im a pediatric nurse, and my partner Jim is a children's clothing store manager... needless to say we love children and cant wait to make friends with gay and lesbian couples and single parents who have children who will be on this cruise!

See you all in July!
Carlos

[baltimorecruzers]

Rosie was not bashing all male nannies. She was asked the question of whether she would hire one or not. She wouldn't. Doesn't mean she doesn't like men. She's more comfortable with a woman, as are many lesbians. She was being honest, not bashing. I'm sure others would hire males and just because she doesn't, it doesn't mean that R Family is anti-male,especially when one of the founders is a gay man.

Give us a break and stop picking apart comments that have NOTHING to do with cruising.

[Crazy aka Cheryl]

I don't think anyone needs to defend Rosie on this topic or any other for that matter. She's very open about her opinions, whether you like them or not. You can choose to accept her as a person, or you can choose to fight through the blogs, but in reality, it won't change one thing..........Rosie will still have her opinion and I seriously doubt this blog is going to make her change her mind or make her feel differently about a personal issue such as who she feels comfortable caring for her children.

I'm over all of the negativity and r-family bashing. If someone is not happy, then choose not to spend your money on a R-family vacation, but don't ruin my experience.

Rosie doesn't know me and I would never presume that she would want to know me, but I am someone who has appreciated the dream that her gay friend and her wife had when they created this vacation experience and I am thankful that Rosie saw that dream and helped make it true because I've looked forward to for the past two years and hope that I can continue to enjoy.......and not because of what Rosie's reputation brings to the ship, but rather what the r-family experience brings to my family. I can assure you that, I'm not going on this July cruise for the entertainment or for the ports, I'm going so that I can spend one on one time with my 17 year old daughter because I know I have precious time with her and want to be on a ship that accepts me as a lesbian, and my daughter.

Now back to the things that are more important in my life........working overtime so that I can pay for the Mexican Riviera deposit that's due in 10 days.

BRAVO very well said. It is an experiance you will never forget.. I am also traveling with my 16 year old our 5 th cruise. It is the unity the Love that keeps us coming back. Ro is Ro and she has her VIEWS no pun intended. I like your idea of lets get to what is important.I am working on Gamblin money at this point.Mexico is if I can.
Cheryl