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Jul. 18th, 2001 09:34 amLast night in class we finished off the night with a conversational activity on gender roles.I asked them questions like "who usually pays for a date" and "who usually cleans the house" and to shout out either 'men', 'women', or 'both'.
I always have to make pains to say that we're not dealing with facts, only opinions, and that you're free to say what you like. And to keep myself out of it as much as possible, but i can never help adding my two cents, esp when asked for my own opinion. Have i ever mentioned that i love to talk?
It was pretty typical for the most part, esp with housework, changing diapers, things like that. With dating it was a bit different-- most people in their experience found that both men and women asked each other out, called one another to ask for a date, and asked each other to dance. One woman was esp adamant on the last one: the woman asks the man to dance! Militant Sadie Hawkins ladies, bless their hearts.
But when pressed, most people thought that the majority of the time men still did the asking out, particularly in their country of origin. I hope i wasn't unconsciously reinforcing stereotypes by doing that-- i want just trying to get people to talk about men's and women's gender roles as an observational thing. you know, in your experience, who asks who out on a date. And i tried to keep it light. No major ground was covered, just a way to unwind from grammar and have a little fun. It was the end of the night, and everyone's pooped.
I was doing pretty good until one guy in the back raised his hand and said, if the men ask women out on date *and* pay for the date, what do the women do?
You can imagine the first answer that *immediately* sprang to mind. I lost several million PC points in my head as i tried to keep it together, i'd open my mouth to say something, and would lose it once again. And the blushing! It's a bitch being fair-skinned. Blushing and at a loss for words in front of 30 people-- yaay, it's fun when it's fun!
Luckily Denise, a kind woman with a much loftier sense of the world, helped me out in a pinch. I guess she hasn't gone on the dates that i have, bang, zing!
I always have to make pains to say that we're not dealing with facts, only opinions, and that you're free to say what you like. And to keep myself out of it as much as possible, but i can never help adding my two cents, esp when asked for my own opinion. Have i ever mentioned that i love to talk?
It was pretty typical for the most part, esp with housework, changing diapers, things like that. With dating it was a bit different-- most people in their experience found that both men and women asked each other out, called one another to ask for a date, and asked each other to dance. One woman was esp adamant on the last one: the woman asks the man to dance! Militant Sadie Hawkins ladies, bless their hearts.
But when pressed, most people thought that the majority of the time men still did the asking out, particularly in their country of origin. I hope i wasn't unconsciously reinforcing stereotypes by doing that-- i want just trying to get people to talk about men's and women's gender roles as an observational thing. you know, in your experience, who asks who out on a date. And i tried to keep it light. No major ground was covered, just a way to unwind from grammar and have a little fun. It was the end of the night, and everyone's pooped.
I was doing pretty good until one guy in the back raised his hand and said, if the men ask women out on date *and* pay for the date, what do the women do?
You can imagine the first answer that *immediately* sprang to mind. I lost several million PC points in my head as i tried to keep it together, i'd open my mouth to say something, and would lose it once again. And the blushing! It's a bitch being fair-skinned. Blushing and at a loss for words in front of 30 people-- yaay, it's fun when it's fun!
Luckily Denise, a kind woman with a much loftier sense of the world, helped me out in a pinch. I guess she hasn't gone on the dates that i have, bang, zing!
