How stereotypical are we? - The Social Experiment

It is very late or very early depending on your point of view. I am sitting here too tired to stay up and too wakeful to go to sleep. My mind is wondering what to do with itself. Should I go to bed and hope to fall asleep? Or should I stay up and try and do something useful? Either way I feel depressed, grouchy and bored.

After spending a few hours doing little jobs, listening to audio CD's, playing solitaire and trawling through Facebook my mind is drifting into that little world of what if? With Beltane just over the horizon and all it means re the joining together of male and female aspects, fertility, companionship etc. I have begun to wonder how close to the male/female stereotypical of the past we still are? In our ancestors times roles had to be very clear cut as existence depended on it. Now lines are blurred and you can be looked down upon if you do not break free from the once traditional mode.

Around election times I often find that women are severely chastised if they do not vote. What about all those women that fought and died for the right of women to be able to vote is the carrion cry. One the other hand if you have not had children either from inability or choice you can be classed as a second class citizen.

Then there is the other side of the coin. If a man lets his wife carry the shopping he is given what is colloquially known as 'the evils'. Nobody thinks that it is because he has just come out from hospital after a serious operation. Then again if he is a house-husband he is somehow deemed less manly. At what point did we decide what makes a REAL Man and what makes a REAL Woman?

Now I admit I am tired and probably suffering from a spot of feminism due to having watched Disney's Mulan. In case you don't know this movie the short synopsis is as follows – Bad guys invade China. Conscription introduced. Father old and injured. Daughter (Mulan) disguises herself as a man and joins army to save him going. She saves her commanding officers life but is revealed as a woman. She is thrown out of army. She sees Bad Guys not dead. Army won't listen because she's a woman. Bad Guys kidnap Emperor. She fights Bad Guys, rescues Emperor and saves the day.

A perfect example of what the modern woman is supposed to be beautiful, intelligent and can handle everything. Erm one small point that is a cartoon not real life. So how do we in real life see the opposite sex. Are we programmed to think that men can't cook and women do not know how check the oil pressure? Or is it they can and do but have decided to let the other half do it for them. In otherwise do we ourselves propagate an urban myth. I happen to know of a case where the male use to wash the pots so badly i.e. only one side that the female always had to wash up afterwards. Eventually what happened was that the female thought it better to just do it herself. Now the female always suspected that the male was doing it on purpose but it was years later that he finally admitted it.

Do we follow convention and fall into the same roles as our parents, grandparents and great grandparents? Or are we super modern and its burning bras and jockstraps? Do we have a healthy balance? Most important do we take the opposite sex for granted? So what is the real truth. Lets find out.

I propose that anybody that is interested try out this little social experiment. For the next month how about (where ever is practical) trying a spot of self sufficiency. What do I mean by that? The answer is from the 1^st May to 1^st June do it yourself. No reminders, no assistance except when asked. Men are often heard to complain that they are constantly nagged and teenagers complain that their parents don't understand them and they are always on at them well now is your chance to prove it.

From May 1^st (these are suggestions only)

Alpha Female -i.e. Mum – the little woman

WILL NOT

Pick up dirty clothes off the floor take them downstairs to wash.

Remind people to take sandwiches to work/school/college.

Wash pots after people have eaten.

Buy Birthday cards/presents for YOUR family and friends.

Be expected to know where books, keys, mobile, I-pad, wallet or games are.

Remind people to put out bin, change bed, that dinner is ready, that a paper due.

Ladies do not think you have got out of it either.

From May 1^st (these are suggestions only)

Alpha Male -i.e. Dad – the hubby

WILL NOT

Be available at three in the morning to pick people up from the nightclub.

Fill up the car in case others want to take it.

Be expected to set up the new – phone, game, computer

Chop hedge, mow lawn, lay turf, fill paddling pool

You get the idea. Note down whenever you feel the need to jump in, take a breath and see what happens. Will your world fall apart or will you be pleasantly surprised?

N.B. Obviously this is not meant to include small children, the sick and infirm.