Food Preference May Be Gender Related

For this week, I found an interesting article. This is the link: http://articles.cnn.com/1996-04-10/health/9604_10_gender.food_1_studies-show-men-red-meat-men-and-women?_s=PM:HEALTH

The article titled “Food preference may be gender related” written on April 10^th, 1996. This article mainly talks about a research done on the issue of gender. The article discusses that women and men have different preferences of food. The psychologist Marsha Pelchat states that men are more willing to eat meat and the women usually crave for meat. The psychologist states that this is somewhat biological due to the fact that the senses of smell is very different for the two genders and men have a higher calorie intake in a day. However, the psychologist also states that the public influences women as the media portrays women to eat less and eat foods that are considered light (such as salads, fruits, etc). Hence, as the society keeps on developing, both men and women become willing to eat less heavy foods and choose to eat healthier and lighter foods such as salad.

This article was really interesting because this issue of eating can easily be seen in society and in everyday life. Whenever I go to the Ronald Tutor Center or a dining hall, I see many girls eating a bowl of salad for lunch. On the other hand, I see many guys eating a burrito or a slice of pizza, which is considered to be less healthy than a salad. Although guys have started to eat lighter and healthier, I still think that women eat less in order to stay fit. In addition, it is very interesting that as society develops more and more, the women still keep eating lighter foods. Also I found it interesting that the biological factors in our bodies are influencing the stereotypes in society. Women are expected to eat less and lighter than men in society; and it is very interesting that the natural biology basically creates those stereotypes. However, it can be seen that the society is changing as healthy diets are being promoted and men are starting to become interested in eating healthy and live a healthier life as women. 

"Beauty mistakes that turn men off"

     I recently read an article on Yahoo! titled "Beauty mistakes that turn men off." Coming across this, I couldn't help but see what writer Catherine Devine of Allure Magazine had to say about male expectations of females. For one, Devine lectures that "nothing says 'I've given up' as succinctly as leg stubble." Instead, a woman must always keep up the impression that she cares about her looks and must go out of her way to show it, such as by always shaving her legs at night for the "most precise finish." But there is a balance that must be obtained for, on the flip side, "caked-on foundation" and "overdone eyelashes" come across as trying too hard, and that is unacceptable as well.
     This is just one of the many "rules" that society generates to further separate the genders. These specifications of femininity in American culture only further justify the fact that femininity has many requirements, while on the other hand, masculinity does not. In addition, femininity, as seen in this article, is portrayed as doing what makes women more desirable to men, not simply just doing what makes them feel better for themselves; women are constantly trying to impress males to gain attention from them. However, it shouldn't be this way- the female shouldn't just be the object looked at by the male. But regardless of what should and should not be, articles like this one mold femininity in this way. Unless the media, magazines, advertisements, etc. make changes to highlight femininity in a brighter light, femininity will always be expressed in such a manner.

Article:
http://shopping.yahoo.com/articles/yshoppingarticles/832/beauty-mistakes-that-turn-men-off/

SWMS 210 reviews for the mid-term exam

Hi,

For those who have facilitated  (or will facilitate for Week 9) section discussions, please write one or two paragraphs to summarize the readings you presented (or will present next week). You can use the "comment" function to post your summary.

Remember to include the names of the authors and the titles of the readings.

Breadwinners

I recently came across a Yahoo! article regarding a cultural gender shift in the primary breadwinner between spouses.  In Liza Mundy's book, The Richer Sex: How the New Majority of Female Breadwinners Is Transforming Sex, Love and Family, she uses facts and figures from 2009 Bureau of Labor Statistics and leads with the fact that now almost 40% of all working women in the United States out-earn their husband.  Looking on the figures in the past decades, anyone can see that this is a huge leap in income for the average woman in the U.S. In not too long the average income for a working women may not be enough to be called inequality (unless that average were surpass men).  The author suggests that one reason for this outcome is because of the recent recession that has taken away many jobs that men held (more notably, manual labor); whereas women appeared to fair better with their more stable jobs.  
Mundy also suggests that, "[Men] craft a broader definition of masculinity, one that includes domestication but also more time spent on manly pursuits: hunting, fishing, and extreme fitness." Which will be just fine for women because they'll come to "accept the bread woman role." This quote is very relatable to our discussion on male masculinity and how it shapes our gender roles in society.  We talked about how masculinity for men is something that is suppose to come effortlessly, but at the same time seems to change with respect to each generation's popular culture.  With femininity seen as something naturally more resistant to change, it's not outlandish to say that women can pick up some of the men's slack and become primary breadwinners in many households.

Masculinities

This week in lecture we focused on Connell's Masculinities. After reading the book, I was still unclear on all the topics Connell mentioned, however, we were able to extrapolate the essential information from the first part of the book in lecture. We focused a lot of the physical appearance of a man, and what that means to be masculine. As long as the man is not "trying" to be masculine, he therefore is masculine. Many times, the topic of puppies being an accessory for men to pick up women was brought up in class. I found this interesting, because though men need to appeal to their feminine side to pick up a puppy, the fact that they are "picking up women" creates the entire event to be masculine.

We watched Pumping Iron clips in lecture. I found it really interesting how similar the body building comepetitions are to Miss America, or Miss World pagents. In both cases, the contestants are showing off their masculinity or femininity through their physical body. However, one big difference is that the audience for both contests happen to be men. In the Miss America pagents, men are showing their sexual power, rather than in the body building competition, which is more related to admiring hegemonic masculinity.

Michelle Duggar

Last week I read an article about Michelle Duggar who is the star of the TLC reality show 19 Kids and Counting about her extremely large family. Apparently Michelle has been publicly speaking to other women about marriage and what she thinks constitutes a good marriage. She touched on what she believes as the most important I found a few quotes that were rather interesting: 

A Husband Needs A Wife Who Accepts Him As A Leader And Believes In His God-Given Responsibilities: Husbands are commanded to govern their wives; God works through a man’s decisions — good or bad; Bad decisions reveal his needs and allow the wife to appeal and demonstrate Godly character; The more a wife trusts her husband, the more careful he will be in giving her direction; Never ask others for counsel without your husband’s approval; reassure your husband that you understand and believe that he is your God-given leader.

A Husband Needs A Wife Who Will Continue To Develop Inward And Outward Beauty: How can you become more of the wife of your husband’s dreams? Discover and conform to your husband’s real wishes; explain your hairstyle to others on the basis of your submission to your authority; separate your 'rights' from your responsibilities.

Ask Your Husband To Define Your Responsibilities: Ask your husband to tell you when you have a resistant spirit; dispel a backbiting tongue by silence.

In fairness, everyone should be able to live their lives the way they want to. Her marriage does not personally affect me and if that is what makes her happy then by all means go ahead and keep living your life. My problem, however, is that she is figure in the public eye and by broadcasting her views she is setting women back about 100 years.

I am by no means a religious expert, but to me this seems absolutely ridiculous. I know Eve was created from Adam's rib, but in Genesis 1: 26-28, both men and women were given equal ruling over the earth. Gender roles is one of the many ambiguous themes throughout the Bible, but Michelle Duggar doesn’t even seem to acknowledge that women are allowed to have at least some power. By saying that God works through a man and that all women must take commands from men is absolutely ancient and barbaric. I am picturing my male-chauvinistic brother reading this and laughing, and then asking me to go make him a sandwich.

Duggar doesn’t even want to have her own opinions but instead devout her life to submitting and serving her husband. Getting a certain hairstyle so he will be happy? Silence yourself and never speak your mind? Believe your husband is your “God-given leader”? Women have fought so hard for equality and are continuing to fight, but women like Duggar threaten everything they have worked for.

Mean Girls

I was watching the movie Mean Girls which really plays on the stereotypes of the way that girls behave in high school. In the movie the girls deal with their issues of everyday life through back stabbing, playing viscous games and manipulating people. These girls try to destroy each other's lives and relationships for their own self gain. While this movie is exaggerating the stereotypes of girl's typical behaviors, it does bring to audiences attention the differences between ways that men and women deal with their issues. In the movie the boys deal with their problems openly and when one of the girls was playing a game to get one of the boy's attentions, he responded by saying "if you wanted to talk to me, you should have just talked to me". In real life we always hear people say how girls internalize what they feel and instead of openly trying to deal with problems they use tactics to get revenge or respond to the situation. Girls accomplish this by talking behind each other's backs, spreading rumors or manipulating people. It is also said that males instead of dealing with their feelings internally they confront their situations head on. They fight about issues and confront the person they are dealing with face to face.I believe that this is not entirely true. I am constantly hearing boys talk about one another, calling them names and talking about their weaknesses and trying to make themselves seem more masculine. Although I agree that males are different in the way that they deal with unfavorable situations, I do think that they are similar to women in the fact that they attack people by using their weak points. Instead of spreading rumors about each other they will attack other males where they think they are the least masculine. This movie was an extreme version of the way that males and females differ when dealing with certain events, however, it did make audiences think about why these differences occur; and are men and women really that different.