Gender Roles

Today in class we discussed gender roles, and how there are very apparent stereotypes of how men and women should act, based on how society expects them to. Men should do the house work, take care of his lady, wear clothing that doesn't always match, and complain about chick flicks. Women are supposed to make the food, care for the kids, love eating ice cream and chocolate, and look good all the while. Some of these things are true for some, but I can name a few girls who cringe at the sight of chocolate.

I find these stereotypes to be very untrue from my experiences. I am terrible at cooking, and I'd much rather eat honeydew than chocolate ice cream. I know a guy that loves cooking and is very aware of what his clothing looks like, and makes sure to look good. When watching scary or sappy movies, I often times fall asleep, while my guy friends will be sitting on the edge of their seat, or my dad will be sobbing when Forrest Gump exclaims, "Jennay! I love you Jennay!" Don't get me wrong that movie is heart wrenching, I'm just not much of a crier.

I can remember of one instance that these stereotypes' irrelevancy was shown big. I was driving with a friend in the passenger seat when he looked to his right and said, "Hey, that's where I get my hair cut" while I said almost simultaneously looking to my left, "Hey, that's where I used to do tae-kwan-doe" We both started laughing, realizing how typically, we should be saying what the other did.

Of course these stereotypes do have to come from somewhere. Traditionally, these stereotypes are true of many men and women and what they prefer. Although this is true, there are a lot of other men and women that would disagree, and don't want what they are "supposed to" want. (319)