Quote:
Originally Posted by Doc Faustus
Male/female friendship and socializing is becoming the norm, but there are still plenty of people who choose sexual partners and lovers without looking at them as friends. Can you honestly tell me you don't know any men who hang out with other women in a friendly capacity while not spending time socially with the girls they're dating? There are still a lot of divisions there and a lot of people who think it is taboo for friendships to cross into romantic territory, instead of realizing this should be the default. As for rape, yes it is obviously a dominance, but ask yourself: why does an individual feel they have a right to dominate somebody? Women's liberation did happen, but to a certain extent, it's a cultural myth. History isn't that concrete. If Martin Luther King defeated racism as we are taught in elementary school, how come there are still hate groups? I caution you against a complacent sense of triumph over such social ills, Betty Friedan or otherwise. The American male at large still demeans women, still gets girlfriends pregnant and runs out on them, still doesn't respect women as people and still often has a "bros before hos" attitude that is demeaning to relationships. I went to a liberal arts college that I have a feeling is more hippie progressive than most (400 students on a hill living in old farmhouses and eating in a barn) , yet jello shots were still a date rape drug, guys still couldn't wait to ditch their girlfriends to play videogames with their pals and many guys still didn't hold that much of a progressive stance. In this liberal college town, girls were still plowed down with liquor and date raped by townies who ran New Age stores and sold used Noam Chomsky books. It's important to know that the permissive, respectful male is part of a very small group. I'm no misogynist. My mother was an unmarried marine. Taught me to kill a man with my barehands and I knew damn well she could do it to anybody she needed to if it came down to it. I've been dating and living with the same girl for almost five years now and I was a friend to her without laying a hand on her for two years, walking through a blizzard to buy her cigarettes I myself am allergic to. I have no anti-female bias and that's how I can see more clearly when others do and it's still everywhere.
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In a nutshell, what I think is this:
Yes, there are definitely still gender stereotypes going on, and the whole men vs. women thing. I don't think it's the majority though, and I definitely wouldn't use the label, "most" when talking how men hate women.