Post by TealBox on Aug 27, 2005 13:24:14 GMT -5
This is a bit different than our normal Algonquin stuff, so bear with me. Okay. I started school Monday. I found that 3 of my 7 classes are highly stressing writing skills this year. That's not surprising considering the 3 classes are Creative Writing, English, and Yearbook. Anyways, I decided that when I write anything for school I think is good enough on its own to be read by people I'll post it here. So far I've written three papers for creative writing, but my teacher hasn't handed them back yet. I'll get those up as soon as I have them back.
Today things are going to be a little different though. I have an English paper due Monday. It is an informal paper. We can write in any style we like. My teacher just wants to see what we're capable of. My problem is it is the weekend, and I can't bring myself to start my homework at noon on a Saturday. So that's why I've come here. My problem with procrastination is largely psychological. I've written pages and pages on this forum, so I figured if I came here and wrote a 350 word post about my topic, then put that into word processor, formatted it, and turned it in, I could get my homework done without feeling like I'm writing an essay for English. The topic is the difference between males and females.
In order to define the difference between men and women we must make some generalizations. As long as that is understood we may continue.
The most distinguishing difference is a simple question. What do they have to prove? There are, of course, physical differences, and I’m sure a scientist could tell you about hormone levels dictating behaviors, but in all honesty the root of any differences is that we as a society expect there to be differences. There is actually a system to all of this. In the very first and most primitive societies the people ate, slept, and reproduced. Since the women of our species take on the physical burden of bearing children, they were far less mobile and forced to be left behind in the shelter. Meanwhile the men were required to gather food. It is from these societies the old stereotypes were born. Women stay at home with the children, and men work to provide for the family.
It wasn’t long before the old stereotypes became expectations themselves. With improvements in technology and the quality of life it was no longer necessary for a woman to have a dozen children in order to ensure the survival of the species. Once people realized women could just as easily provide for themselves and their family as men could things started to change. With any change there are always those who oppose to it and lead to a conflict. These conflicts are the parents of the current state of stereotypes and expectations among genders.
Modern men strive to prove they are not the womanizing and oppressive “pigs” of past generations. How many are sincere about this cannot truly be known, but some men do what they believe while others just say what it takes to sound good. There are also those who claim the actions that were once viewed as pig-headed were really just human nature stifled by the old expectations. For women the challenge is to prove they are not mindless and frail damsels. They will often view help offered to them as insulting or unnecessary. With both groups there is also a struggle to claim these new identities without being “girly men” or “tom boys” leading to an even higher level of complexity.
Both groups have very odd styles for showing their emotions. Men are often quiet until something truly moves them. They will finally go to a friend (who is usually a female) they trust and tell her every detail of the situation before asking her many questions and swearing her to secrecy. Women’s approach is both less desperate and more aggravating. They will calmly hint that something is up to their friend (who is usually a male) until it drives their friend crazy. The friend will then beg to know what is up, and the girl will finally explain things in two sentences or less. If those two sentences are ever brought up again she will deny ever having said them.
The two genders also have romantic interests in each other (as well as a large number interested in their own gender, but society is still a little touchy about that). A desire for commitment is specific to neither gender and is rather developed through life experiences. However, in most cases girls have better luck getting boyfriends than boys have at getting girlfriends. It should be noted that many of these boyfriends last less than a week though. In most cases a woman will date a variety of men trying to find the one she truly enjoys being will, while a man will focus all of his attention on one woman until she finally dates or rejects him.
It’s all really kind of funny. Women and men both like games, music, TV, and any other imaginable entertainment. Both genders have similar interests, feelings, and desires. In spite of all of this they act completely different though, and the only reason is nobody expects them to actually be the same.
Okay, that was actully 2 pages and a paragraph, so I went a little over the minimum, but how come on, it was 12 point font and double-spaced. That's like eight sentences.
Today things are going to be a little different though. I have an English paper due Monday. It is an informal paper. We can write in any style we like. My teacher just wants to see what we're capable of. My problem is it is the weekend, and I can't bring myself to start my homework at noon on a Saturday. So that's why I've come here. My problem with procrastination is largely psychological. I've written pages and pages on this forum, so I figured if I came here and wrote a 350 word post about my topic, then put that into word processor, formatted it, and turned it in, I could get my homework done without feeling like I'm writing an essay for English. The topic is the difference between males and females.
The One Big Difference That Is Always the Same
In order to define the difference between men and women we must make some generalizations. As long as that is understood we may continue.
The most distinguishing difference is a simple question. What do they have to prove? There are, of course, physical differences, and I’m sure a scientist could tell you about hormone levels dictating behaviors, but in all honesty the root of any differences is that we as a society expect there to be differences. There is actually a system to all of this. In the very first and most primitive societies the people ate, slept, and reproduced. Since the women of our species take on the physical burden of bearing children, they were far less mobile and forced to be left behind in the shelter. Meanwhile the men were required to gather food. It is from these societies the old stereotypes were born. Women stay at home with the children, and men work to provide for the family.
It wasn’t long before the old stereotypes became expectations themselves. With improvements in technology and the quality of life it was no longer necessary for a woman to have a dozen children in order to ensure the survival of the species. Once people realized women could just as easily provide for themselves and their family as men could things started to change. With any change there are always those who oppose to it and lead to a conflict. These conflicts are the parents of the current state of stereotypes and expectations among genders.
Modern men strive to prove they are not the womanizing and oppressive “pigs” of past generations. How many are sincere about this cannot truly be known, but some men do what they believe while others just say what it takes to sound good. There are also those who claim the actions that were once viewed as pig-headed were really just human nature stifled by the old expectations. For women the challenge is to prove they are not mindless and frail damsels. They will often view help offered to them as insulting or unnecessary. With both groups there is also a struggle to claim these new identities without being “girly men” or “tom boys” leading to an even higher level of complexity.
Both groups have very odd styles for showing their emotions. Men are often quiet until something truly moves them. They will finally go to a friend (who is usually a female) they trust and tell her every detail of the situation before asking her many questions and swearing her to secrecy. Women’s approach is both less desperate and more aggravating. They will calmly hint that something is up to their friend (who is usually a male) until it drives their friend crazy. The friend will then beg to know what is up, and the girl will finally explain things in two sentences or less. If those two sentences are ever brought up again she will deny ever having said them.
The two genders also have romantic interests in each other (as well as a large number interested in their own gender, but society is still a little touchy about that). A desire for commitment is specific to neither gender and is rather developed through life experiences. However, in most cases girls have better luck getting boyfriends than boys have at getting girlfriends. It should be noted that many of these boyfriends last less than a week though. In most cases a woman will date a variety of men trying to find the one she truly enjoys being will, while a man will focus all of his attention on one woman until she finally dates or rejects him.
It’s all really kind of funny. Women and men both like games, music, TV, and any other imaginable entertainment. Both genders have similar interests, feelings, and desires. In spite of all of this they act completely different though, and the only reason is nobody expects them to actually be the same.
Okay, that was actully 2 pages and a paragraph, so I went a little over the minimum, but how come on, it was 12 point font and double-spaced. That's like eight sentences.
