Gender Roles/Stereotypes

[cancerously]

Right, so I'm just curious about what people think about gender roles/stereotypes and whether or not they are an issue in today's society. I'm not talking about gender equality... there's already a feminism thread going and it's covered A LOT.

I'm talking about statements like this....

"Women are expected to cook and clean all the time and the man is never expected to help."

"Girls bad at math and science and guys are bad at language arts and English, and vice versa."

"Men are supposed to be muscular, tough, ripped, etc. and women are supposed to be slender."


basically, I'm just asking what you think of these stereotypes and expectations. and any others you'd like to add or talk about is fine. obviously, these statements are kind of extreme, but you do see them in everyday life to at least some extent... or at least I do.

and quite frankly, they infuriate me to no end.

[Mortimer 2]

Girls bad at math and science
Not really,all girls in my school always better for everything than boys,except for sports. :rofl:
I'm just asking what you think of these stereotypes and expectations?
Depend. :| (Which Country?)

[el_flel]

I'm female and laugh in the face of those stereotypical statements:
"Women are expected to cook and clean all the time and the man is never expected to help."In my house the OH cooks because I'm terrible at it. I think he cleans more than me as well. We do always joke that the traditional relationship roles are reversed with us, and this extends beyond housework.
"Girls are bad at math and science and guys are bad at language arts and English, and vice versa."My best subjects at school were Maths, Science and IT, and I was rubbish at English and Art.
"Men are supposed to be muscular, tough, ripped, etc. and women are supposed to be slender."I don't like lots of muscles.

Statements like those are seriously outdated in today's society. There's nothing wrong with people fitting them if they choose to, because everyone is entitled to live their lives as they see fit, but it's when they become an expectation that is the problem.

I don't see the "a woman's place is in the kitchen" comments much (that's often used jokingly) but there is still very much the belief amongst a lot of men that women know nothing about cars, computers, science, sports or DIY. I know plenty of women who are great at these things, and plenty of men who suck at them.

[paksetti]

Well, in my personal life-

1.) My brother is a professional chef, and hates messes.
2.) My mom is horrible at all four of those subjects, but my dad is great at all but math.
3.) My mom and I are fat, my brother's somewhat fit and my dad's a stick. But it is more or less expected for women to be slender and men to be muscly- you know, if you haven't learned better.

So there you go. People are rainbows. Some people actually fit into stereotypical roles, but not all do.

[fakepeeps7]

"Women are expected to cook and clean all the time and the man is never expected to help."

Unfortunately, this is the way it is in my extended family. Family gatherings see the women in the kitchen cooking and cleaning while the guys watch sports on TV. It drives me absolutely nuts.

I hope I'm not expected to cook, because I'm not very good at it. :lol:

"Girls bad at math and science and guys are bad at language arts and English, and vice versa."

I struggled with math at times, but I was pretty good in all the other subjects. I've got a male cousin who struggles with math, too, despite being a pretty smart kid in other areas. Two of my female cousins struggle with reading (to the point where they hate it). And in high school, I had a friend who won math contests and skipped a year ahead in math class. She's female. We can generalize about who's better at math and who's better at language... but there will always be lots of exceptions to the "rules" we make.

"Men are supposed to be muscular, tough, ripped, etc. and women are supposed to be slender."

I don't think people are "supposed to" be anything... except maybe healthy.

[xmgirl]

Well cancerously i sort of agree with everyone"s different but i agree with you expect sometimes men are good at art

[Peace.and.Chaos]

Unfortunately, these stereotypes exist nowadays because they've existed since like...forever and it's maybe a part of how children are taught to think.

"Women are expected to cook and clean all the time and the man is never expected to help."

It drives me mad because this situation is almost like a staple in my family and in my country. Men are supposed to drink beer, watch soccer on TV and munch on sunflower seeds while their wives cook and take care of the children, clean etc.
I'm a disaster in the kitchen and hate sports like soccer. I know plenty of guys that aren't interested in soccer and actually know how to cook.

My dad still thinks that my future husband will leave me because of my low cooking skills. :rofl:

If he cannot look after himself then he isn't a man, he's a little boy and I don't need a child, I need a partner.

"Girls bad at math and science and guys are bad at language arts and English, and vice versa."

There are many men and women in both fields. I personally study mostly math and science at school but also love languages and arts, reading etc. This differentiation between these domains is unjust because being good at these subjects also implies having a certain personality type that makes you excel at them.

In conclusion, these personality types apply both to women and men and both genders have equal chances to be good at Math or to be good at English or History.

"Men are supposed to be muscular, tough, ripped, etc. and women are supposed to be slender."

It's something inoculated in our conscience and it has more to do with the standards that the media/society etc. imposes on us.

[geallach]

I think that the stereotypes men face, and their gender roles are at least as difficult as women's, but they hardly ever get noticed. For example, there was huge controversy in my country recently when a crisps company used women in very tight tops in their posters. Feminists went crazy, saying it was sexist and demeaning. But here also, scantilly-clad men, usually with nothing more than a pair of underpants on, appear in TV and poster ads all the time. They are the stereotypical gorgeous and silent Adonis, but no-one ever complains about them.

Also in ads here, men are often portrayed as being incapable of doing anything around the house, or look after kids, without a woman's help.

Working mothers are given a lot of attention. There is a lot of talk about how some working mothers feel guilty about leaving their children to work, and how this is not fair, but what about all the working fathers? I suppose none of them ever wished that they could spend more time with their children, being lazy men and all. It just is not fair. I also hate the primeval assumption that still continues today that children are always better off with their mother. I know some amazing fathers and, quite frankly, some rather bad mothers, so this assumption makes me really angry.

It is practically a fact among a lot of women that men are not capable of either feeling or understanding complex emotions. I have heard several women say that men just don't understand women's feelings, as though they were lower forms of life. This idea that men are supposed to be strong and silent is not only unfair, it is also really damaging. Think of the fact that many men do not feel they can or should talk about their problems, and all that this could lead to.

I hate the fact that some women feel comfortable to be openly sexist towards men. My history teacher used to go on and on about how men were less intelligent than women and how they cannot multitask, and that men's behaviour is inclined to be worse than women's. She would say this in front of a class of boys, completely seriously. I am certain that if our male woodwork teacher had said that girls were worse at woodwork than boys, he probably would have been sacked the next day. Then there is this crap about women being 'naturally' better teachers. It is all so ridiculous.

As a woman, of course I am angry that stereotypes against us exist, but I think that the ones men have to face need to be discussed to. There are many more I would like to discuss, but this post is a bit long already. I believe in an equal society, not one where one gender is privileged in any way above the other. I don't want a society in which my boyfriend believes that he can't talk to me about his emotions, or one in which he is stereotyped and feels he should accept it.

[Shoosh Malooka]

"Women are expected to cook and clean all the time and the man is never expected to help."
"Girls bad at math and science and guys are bad at language arts and English, and vice versa."
"Men are supposed to be muscular, tough, ripped, etc. and women are supposed to be slender."


That was the sentiment 30 years ago in the US. Today, every time you see a couple in a commercial the woman is always the smart one.

Now it seems:

"Women can work and be moms to both their kids and husbands, the latter being weak and incompetent and needing to have their little ego's stroked every time they cry."

[cancerously]

That was the sentiment 30 years ago in the US. Today, every time you see a couple in a commercial the woman is always the smart one.

Now it seems:

"Women can work and be moms to both their kids and husbands, the latter being weak and incompetent and needing to have their little ego's stroked every time they cry."


in some commercials, yes. not all of them. I don't watch a lot of TV and I certainly don't pay any mind to most commercials when I do, but a lot of the commercials for like... home security systems, are... well they're not particularly sexist or anything, they're just the stereotypical stuff that get under my skin.


home security system commercials rarely feature a man using the product unless it's a couple sleeping together at night. it's usually just a young woman living alone or a mother and her child when the burglar is spotted and the security system goes off. and who calls and asks if the family is alright? a man. now I know they're making the situation more relateable and marketable, but seriously, they could include more men in their commercials using the product and more females coming to the aid of the "victims" or whatever.