The value of a man

Why is it that people generally value men more than women?? Without women where are men be??? Where would we be?? It always amazed me reading stories and seeing on TV shows and movies about the Japanese or Chinese or some people that would throw away little girls, or about men that would get upset with women when they didn't bear male children. Not only is it stupid because men are genetically the ones that decide the sex of the child, but beating your wife or switching from woman to woman isn't going to change much. The point of all this is...how did we get to the point where women and men are unequal in the first place? Yes, the Lord did take a rib from Adam to form Eve, but does this make her a lesser person? Or is it because she convinced Adam to eat fruit they shouldn't have that no one trusts women? Or, perhaps they were seen as a little bit lesser when they began to reproduce. Reproduction is not an easy process to go through, so maybe men got used to working while women were going through this. Still, this is no reason to assume women are weaker, to go through something like that should make them stronger than others. I guess stereotypes were generated from ways of life that just happened to be created naturally from the way men and women behave. Once again, feminism, which should only be the fact that one is a female, became to mean so much more and to incorporate characteristics that vary from person to person. Also, creating a model of the typical female for other females to adjust themselves to.

From G's to Gents

"He's tough, tough pink."

I was watching From G's to Gents the other night, and on this particular episode their challenge was about how they dressed. Before their challenge, they went through the suitcases of all of the G's, telling them what was acceptable and what wasn't. One of the guys said that he had a unique and fashionable style, but everyone else was laughing at a pair of pink sunglasses he had. Someone actually asked him: "Do they sell these for men too?" Thats when another G said the quote above - "He's tough, tough pink." It was funny to me how one color represents so much to everyone. There is even another character that had some oddly striped man capris and pink, orange, and green in his cornrows. Another G said referring to him that he was scared for him to to pick out his outfit for the challenge since he only wore black, red, and blue and this other guy wore all these strange colors. Especially for these supposedly tough, rough men, color means a lot. Just wearing the color pink in even something small like a pair of shades undermines their masculinity. My mother's fiance would die before he put an ounce of pink on him, and this was even when men had their little phase where they actually wore pink in button up shirts, t-shirts, and ties. Pink is so strongly tied to women that men cringe at the thought of it. Its funny though, how blue and black may not be a woman's favorite colors but she isn't ridiculed for liking them. However, looking around my room which is drowned in the color pink, if I were to go into a female's room that had the same item as I but in a navy blue or something, I would assume she was a tomboy. The association of color with gender is just a minor representation of how we associate other characteristics with gender, simply categorizing everyone.

Sadie Hawkins dances...ugh.

For some reason, the memory of "Sadie Hawkins" dances just came up in my head. Who has this person anyway?? What did they do?? Why is it that only on this rare occasion do the girls ask the guys to the dance? It's amazing to think about the gender stereotypes and expectations that we as a society have. Who ever said what it meant to be a gentleman? Why do many of this associate it with holding open doors and putting jackets in mud so you don't have to step in it, and letting you get your Lil' Wayne concert tickets first? The truth is, no one knows where all of this originated from. Even reading history you can see that though women do not have the social standing that we currently have, there was still a certain courtship that men had to provide to them. Perhaps if you take the "Adam and Eve" way of thinking, you could say that maybe God whispered in Adam's ear for him to be nice to Eve. Or maybe even, men noticed that women reproduce better and more effectively when they are in a good mood, so they just got used to treating them nicely. As for the domestic abusers, there are always those that think its easier to get what you want by fear, but that is entirely a different subject. Anyhow, it is very difficult to determine where all of this originated from as society is changing as we speak. In America, there are less moms at home and more on the job. So, maybe this means that there was not one thing or person that decided how men and women would act, but it is simply a product of our natural selves, interactions with each other, our assumptions, stereotypes, and expectations.

"If I Were a Boy"

With Valentine's Day upon us, there has been some talk about plans and everything, and I am personally going home to see my boyfriend. Yet, my mother is not the "sit back and watch" type, she likes to know what is going on in my life, so of course I had to tell her. I got all of these "talks" and tips and everything that I started to wonder what it would be like if I were a boy. Would she go any easier on me? Would I be allowed to do more of what I wanted? (She disregards that legally, I am an adult) My godbrother is a freshman in high school and he has had this girl calling the house frequently and my mom told me about and said we would have to talk to him when I came home. I asked her what she wanted me to say and she said "Oh I don't know, I was just teasing him." Trust me, if I had someone calling the house that much or if I went to the movies with them while my mom was under the impression that I was with only friends (yes, my godbrother did that), then my mother wouldn't be "just teasing" me. With me, it would be in all seriousness that she would explain to me the consequences of sex and all that jazz, but she's just teasing him!!! On one occasion, her fiance even confessed to me that if he had a child, he would want a boy. This was after I had gotten in trouble concerning a boy, and he was trying to give me his "two cents." He said he wanted a boy because I guess he wouldn't have to worry about him being protected or taking care of himself or something along those lines. It really annoyed me because I have never personally been in the situation or even close to being taken advantage of, I actually fight pretty well if I may say so myself. It annoyed me that he assumed strength came packaged in the male gender, as if it had to do with genes or something. I do believe that men are naturally stronger than women but this doesn't mean that we are unable to protect and provide for ourselves, which he didn't and still doesn't seem to get. For instance, I saw on a TV show where a girl said she was going to give a boy the "3 day rule" for him to call her, and it made me wonder, why are the boys supposed to call? It gives the girl a bad reputation if she is calling or visiting all of the time, but to me it shouldn't matter - you should be able to call when you want to, regardless of gender. Gender stereotypes are truly mysterious.