gender roles
One newlywed couple scoffs at convention and redefines modern marriage roles.
I'm a brand-spanking newlywed whose single biggest fear about marriage was the word wife.
For me, it conjures up centuries of well-worn stereotypes: Women in bonnets bent over hot stoves, and '60s Stepford-types handing over martinis with tight smiles—nothing resembling the thoroughly-2010 relationship I have with the guy I love. Lemondrop: The Obamas Prove What We Already Knew — Marriage Is Hard Work
I said "I do" to him because he's irreverent but responsible, scary-smart but socially graceful, and the person who never fails to make me guffaw. In fact, one fateful day after a bad breakup, before we were even … Read More
Why are men no longer the primary breadwinners?
Major gender role changes are afoot, according to a new study from the Pew Research Center. Men are increasingly marrying women who earn more money or have more education than them. The numbers say it all: In 1970, 4% of wives earned more than their husbands; In 2007, 22% did. Good job ladies!
Between 1970 and now, household incomes went up by 60% for married people and for single women; by contrast, single men only saw a 16% rise in household income. That's a pretty big gap, and it's happening for a number of reasons.
First of all, more women … Read More
As part of his book, The Guinea Pig Diaries, author A.J. Jacobs did everything his wife told him to.
From The Guinea Pig Diaries by A.J. Jacobs. Copyright c. 2009 by A.J. Jacobs. Reprinted by permission of Simon and Schuster, Inc.
In the course of all the life experiments I do for journalism, the most common theme of the e-mails I get sent is that my wife is a saint. These e-mails are sent by readers who are in awe of Julie for putting up with my biblical beard, or for tolerating the endless stream during my year of reading the Britannica. Often, they'll say that I owe her something for the suffering I've inflicted—precious stones, perhaps.
But a … Read More
Gender role confusion in Japan and what, exactly, is "otaku"?
Not to judge (or stereotype), but there is some strange love going down in the nation of Japan. Per a great piece in the New York Times magazine, some Japanese guys (and, like, one girl) have decided that love and sex and romance with real, live people is not worth the effort. I heard that (kidding).
Essentially, these young men (and, like, one woman) are an offshoot of the "otaku" subculture and really love cartoons (even if it's not cold). While "otaku" denotes a group of people who are obsessed with anime, comics and video game characters, the "moe" … Read More
Human mating strategies are not as predictable as once believed, find researchers.
We've all heard the oft-cited gender role stereotypes. Men are promiscuous. Women are choosy. Biology programs men to want to widely spread their seed while women are programmed to want to guard their eggs. According to a new study these gender roles that sound oversimplified, are oversimplified.
Researchers set about testing conventional sex roles as a way to better understand them and found evidence supporting their opinion that human mating strategies do not subscribe to just one universal, predictable pattern.
The findings, which appear in the April 20 issue of the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution, challenge the long-held … Read More
Men fix cars, figure out credit card bills and hook up the TV. Is it sexist to want a guy for that?
When I was in college I bought my first car. The first car I actually owned was a hand-me-down from my parents (a 1988 Nissan Stanza to be exact, not exactly a pimp ride), but it’s life ended my senior year and I needed a replacement. At the time I was in a bit of an extended fight with my dad and we weren’t speaking at all. So when it came time to buy my car, I had to rely on my limited knowledge of automobiles in order to get the best deal on a used car that would … Read More
Chivalrous vampires are the "latest craze," says NPR.
If you asked if me if I'd ever read a romance before, I'd say "no, of course not."
Then I'd pause and realize, that's not right –– I'm a voracious consumer of young adult vampire novels!
Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer, and Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side, by Beth Fantaskey, are two of my favorite vampire romances (both young adult novels). Though they're not packaged as "romances," exactly, I surprised myself enamoured with –– swooning, even! –– over the hunky male protagonists.
Even though they're, um, undead.
At first, neither Edward in Twilight or Lucius … Read More
These Albanian "sworn virgins" lived like men—but with their hymens intact.
If you're like me, sometimes you fret about what Europeans must think of us Americans and our schizophrenic sex lives. Despite our Britneys and our Pamelas, it's no secret we're quite Puritanical. I worry some dashing Italian man or sexy Frenchwoman is watching a TV program (lounging in fabulous lingerie, I'm sure) about virginity pledges and purity balls and shaking their head at our country, which prizes purity so much we have industries built around it.
But an article on the BBC this weekend relaxed me a little bit about Europe: meet Albania's "sworn virgins." … Read More
Study: "traditional" men who don't want their wives to work get more $$.
That man who expects his wife to stay home tending to the pot roast and the toddlers? He's raking in more dough than you.
In the most aggravating news of the week, the BBC reports men who believe a woman's place is in the home, and that women who work cause higher rates of juvenile delinquency, earn an average of $8,500 a year more. (That's, like, three cruises to the Bahamas.)
According to the Journal of Applied Psychology, in 1979 researchers at the University of Florida asked over 12,000 men and women between the ages of … Read More
Time Warp Wives Love '30s, '40s and '50s.
Meet the "Time Warp Wives" -- three British gals who live like it's 1930, 1940 and 1950.
I want those clothes! But not that life.
The Daily Mail interviewed Joanne, age 35, who owns some fabulous 1950s get-ups -- but she also doesn't leave the house without lipstick on and won't put gas in the car because it's "so unladylike." She's happy in her apron, stirring up homemade jam and baking cakes for her husband Kevin in their 1950s-style kitchen. Joanne attributes their uber-retro lifestyle to disgust at high-speed society:
"It may sound silly, … Read More
