Last month the website Madame Noire posted a list of the “7 Manly Things We Wish Men Still Did.” I don’t recommend clicking over there, because they do that super annoying website thing where each item on the list is put on a different page and there’s a pop-up audio play ad running. So here’s the list:
- Move Out of Their Mothers’ Houses
- Insist on Paying the Bill
- Dialing Our Number (as opposed to texting)
- Hold the Door Open for a Stranger
- Keep Us Warm (give a lady your jacket)
- Help Us with Our Bags
- Have a Signature Aftershave
What’s interesting, is that over the years people have sent us several iterations of this kind of article, but we’ve yet to see a list by men of things they wish women still did. Because of course, writing such a list would get you clobbered over the head with charges of sexism. This double-standard generally extends to all articles about the sexes these days–it is generally okay to complain about the deficiencies of men, but never women. One cannot imagine an article entitled “The End of Women” or “Where Have All the Good Women Gone?”
Whenever you read an article like this, in the comments there are always complaints that women want to have it both ways–to be equal and independent and be treated with chivalry. And some guy always says something like, “Well I’ll go back to doing some of these old fashioned things for women, when women start bringing back some old fashioned things too.”
So a few points for discussion:
-Are there old fashioned things that you wish women still did?
-Or do you think that neither men nor women should be expected to do any old fashioned things?
-Or do you think that men should have to still do old fashioned things, but not women?
Hat tip to Darren for this link.
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First of all, I don’t know what you guys are talking about in regards to women’s clothing, I went to a very strict Christian school through high school and if I never have to see another little house on the prairie school marm outfit on a beautiful young woman again, I’ll be thrilled. In my city anyway, many women dress to kill anytime they’re out in public, and quality denim can look very stylish and flattering. And in 2011, there isn’t anything wrong with showing a little skin. So lets knock off the puritan routine. Saw a girl in a low cut shirt riding a bicycle over a rough patch of asphalt this morning; made my whole day. But if I could bring back some old fashioned values, I suppose I would start with:
1) Get some hobbies or interests. It seems many women today have absolutely no curiosity about the world and have no interests outside of fashion, celebrity gossip, and trendy restaurants and night spots.
2) Control yourself around alcohol. No one enjoys the pack of super loud, drunk chicks on girl’s night out who think they are entertaining the whole bar.
3) Know how to cook. I really enjoy cooking and like cooking with the women I date. You don’t have to be Giada De Laurentis, but knowing how to cook a chicken breast makes you look way more put together.
4) Make me work a little bit for it. Shooting a zebra at the zoo isn’t a safari, and a woman throwing herself at me isn’t a conquest either.
Up at the top in the url it says 1897, my guess is that’s the year these comments are coming from what with all the awful sexism and misogyny. Americans in this thread, be sure to recognize Philippine independence otherwise you’ll get into some pretty nasty atrocities! Caio
Perhaps the reason there are not as many lists from men about what they wish women
still did is because we still do a heck of a lot of stuff our mothers did. I for one, being a mother of 5 kids, still cook, still clean, still do the washing and the ironing, mending, sewing, tucking in, and owie bandaging. On top of that I pay the bills, fill my gas tank, check my oil, and fill my tires. Sadly, I have to check his oil, fill his tires too if I want it done, cause he won’t. The only reason he fills his tank is because we live on base abroad and I’m not allowed to. So, yes I wish there were a few traits of “old fashioned” men in my man! I feel a song coming on–Even it up! by Heart!
“Whenever you read an article like this, in the comments there are always complaints that women want to have it both ways–to be equal and independent and be treated with chivalry.”
The real problem here is that when you are trying to get to know a girl, it is extremely difficult to tell whether that girl is the type that will lash out at you for being a “chauvinist” or appreciate you offering to hold her bag, etc. Many men, unfortunately, aren’t all that willing to drop those girls that are the former “do everything for myself” kind of person.
i wish that we had women like June Cleaver and Donna Reed around again, and they were very committed to their men too.
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