Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Gender Differences

Like the majority of everyone else I am on Facebook. Every day on Facebook people post a variety of comments, pictures, quotes, religious pictures (because you know Jesus is on Facebook and cares if you click like or share..lol ) or a combination of the above. For some reason I am really bothered by all the picture quotes that are about teaching your daughter how a man should treat her for example a friend of mine recently posted this one seen below:

While it does give that little blurb at the end of teaching our sons to become that kind of man for the most part teaching our sons in what to expect from a woman is never mentioned. These post bother me simply because our society focuses so much on girls/daughters/woman and what they "deserve" to get/how to be treated by a man that we neglect to consider boys/sons/men and how they deserve to be treated by a woman.

So why does this bother me? For one it sends a message that if you are female it is a man's job to make sure he treats you a certain way but fails to mention that as a woman it is also our job to make sure we treat our husbands (or boys) a certain way. I have yet to see one picture put up on Facebook that instructs mothers of boys to make sure to teach their sons that a woman should treat him with respect, appreciation, kindness, and sensitivity for example. Nor do I expect to see one (but I am in the process of making one!).



In essence these types of pictures continues the unequal gender views and attaches qualities and expectations to the female sex only and perpertuates the thought that men are to treat woman a certain way no matter how they treat them. I mean really woman who are reading this how many of you when you were growing up where told to treat your husband with respect? Kindness? Dignity? I am not at all saying that women don't deserve to be treated as the picture above states, hey I am a woman and I appreciate it when my husband treats me this way, what I am saying is that we are forgetting all about men and teaching our daughters nothing about being future wives and how they should treat their husbands nor are we teaching our sons what they should demand behavior wise from their future wife.

Now before anyone gets on their high horse and thinks that I am not advocating for teaching your daughters to expect a man to treat them good let me explain. I am. Simple as that. But what I am also saying is while your teaching your daughters this also teach them that they are to show their husbands love, honor, respect, kindness, and treat them with dignity in the process. And make an effort while your teaching your son how to treat a woman that you also teach him how a woman should treat him. I have a son and I intend to do just that.

Picture 1 came from Facebook and picture 2

2 comments:

  1. Good point. There really is a double standard. Now I'm what most would probably classify as a feminist, but I don't think feminism should be at the expense of totally dismissing the right of males to be treated with the same level of care and respect that we expect out of them. So many girls are expectant of being treated like a "queen" but don't treat their men like "kings." It makes me sad when I hear of friends that say they would never let their husbands treat them poorly, then turn around and discuss what a "lazy slob" their husband is or how he has become a "fat ass" over the years. It's funny, because if a wife heard her husband saying those things to his friends about her, all hell would beak loose!

    Sorry for the running tangent here. Bottom line is, I AGREE!

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  2. Jessica, you are correct! There is a double standard a huge one when it comes to expected behaviors. Ha I could just see a group of women attacking a man because of that kind of talk..lol

    Allie

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