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"Traditional gender roles are bad!"
No, they're not.
You know how you hate it when people tell you that you're morally wrong because you're a man who wears frilly clothes, or you're a woman who dresses up like Larry the Cable Guy? Yeah, you're exactly as annoying, self-righteous and pigheaded as the people who tell you not to do that shit. Arguably, you're worse, because the majority of people are perfectly happy with the mainstream view of how men and women should act, so you're being bitchy to more people than those assholes who persecute 2% of the country.
For the record, I don't give a shit whether or not a woman wants to be a housewife. That's her decision. Likewise, if a man wants to dress up like Ethel Merman and blow every guy in town, I'm okay with that, too. I'm not even saying that the majority of LGBTQQIWTFBBQZOMGMMORPGFPSRPG act like assholes to people like me, because I KNOW plenty of gay and bi people, and for the most part they're alright (although they have terrible fashion sense). I have a problem, though, with those few people who complain about how crossdressing isn't considered masculine, or how plaid vests and short, spiky hair are expressions of femininity.
Gender roles exist for a purpose: they work. Men and women act the way they do because it's the most efficient allocation of manpower, and therefore the most successful. Don't like it? Go ahead and dislike it all you want. It won't change. But don't tell me I'm repressed because I don't think that memorizing the lyrics to Andrew Lloyd Weber musicals is the pinnacle of masculinity.
Comments
but that is traditionalAgain, for the record, I'm not complaining about people who don't subscribe to gender norms. I'm complaining about people who hate gender norms, and think they're evil.
Edmania, think "Evil Stepmother," not "Louis XIV."
The issue that I (and many others I've spoken to on this issue) have is with those who attempt to enforce those gender roles in others.
If Suzie wants nothing more than to be a house-wife, then more power to her. However, she should not be pressured into it, and should have the choice to become something less traditionally feminine if that is her goal and she has the skills required to do it.
However, I won't deny that a good percentage of society's works are that of coercion.
I agree that people should be able to choose what roles to take on in life, but I think that Elbeem makes a very good point. I think the biggest problem with "traditional gender roles" may be the "traditional" part. Basically, I am perfectly fine with someone willingly choosing to be a stay-at-home mom for example, but I think that many times the tradition part of "traditional gender roles" is enforced or at least heavily encouraged.
That bothers me because I think it totally takes away the choice aspect of gender roles and that is why I think it is perfectly fine to complain when someone says that one is "not really a man" or "not really a woman" because of one's interests, clothing choices, personality or what have you. That kind of talk really bugged me and continues to bug me about discussions of women in politics like Sec. Clinton or former Gov. Palin or women in sports broadcasting or just in sports in general.
I have yet to hear the complaints about masculinity and feminity that you mentioned, so I will have to take your word for it there. I was under the impression that people tended to criticize the ideas of masculinity and femininity more than trying to argue that what they liked fit under them, but I could be wrong about that.
That said, gender roles are entirely silly in modern society and there's no reason to keep them around anymore. Women shouldn't be encouraged to be housewives and men shouldn't be encouraged to be body builders (and they shouldn't be discouraged either). Much of it was always silliness; what remains afterwards has been entirely unnecessary cultural flotsam at least since the industrial revolution if not long before that.
Which is exactly why Karalora needs to see this.This.
In an era where most, if not all labor can be outsourced to simple or electronic machines, there's no reason for women to shy away from manual labor.
I was hoping for porn of fit women. Or at least funny jokes about women getting -4 STR in D&D.
IA, you have disappointed me.
However,. this one has a huge problem with considering these specific sets f behaviour as something that should happen.
To put it another way, yes, this one has a huge problem with the concept of gender roles, but not with people choosing to act in a manner that happens to fit commonly perceived gender roles.
A person wants to stay at home and take care of kids. If this person happens to be make - fine. If this person happens to be female - also fine.
A person thinks that it is her place to stay at home and take care of kids because said person is female - that is not fine at all.
Don't get it. People complain about all sorts of things. How is this any different?
Only time I really had an issue with traditional gender roles was several years back when I signed up to kung-fu classes to pick up women..... in the classes. Nice idea in theory, but it was offputting to find that nobody female stuck around in the class for very long, and most of them were complete wusses.... so I mostly ended up exchanging punches with overly muscled guys. I left eventually.... after a year...
Honestly, what I have a problem with are the statements like "the majority of the population is okay with it" & "they work, they're the most efficient allocation of whatever the last word was."
No. They aren't. Modern day gender roles are neither traditional nor are they universal. They're a cultural construct. And moreover, they're a construct that's a throwback to the 50's. They don't work well in our modern culture. Nowadays, more income can only help, because you have things like daycare to take care of the kids. And the jobs most people do don't require that males specifically do them, if that was ever a necessity to begin with.
Another nail in the coffin is that "being" a gender role is not inherently bad, but thinking in terms of "gender roles" is. No, I don't mind a woman being a housewife. But what you're basically saying is, "That's the way it was meant to be," which is sexist, like it or not.
And actually, you seem to be talking a lot about fashion, which is even more ridiculous. There is no logical reason to believe that long hair on women is "what works," it's just what the culture prefers.