"Huh, that could be interesting."
I often think that the way I am is a strange mix of girly and not-girly at all... so here goes
Girly things I like to do:
Wear skirts and dresses and heels
Paint my nails... a lot
Go clothes shopping
Giggle... I kinda love giggling
Bake (especially for boys who never refrain from eating baked-happiness because they are worried about their weight)
Wear makeup
Listen to theatre production soundtracks
Cuddle (though I maintain that everyone likes this, guys just don't want to admit it.)
Overanalyze my feelings, your feelings, our relationship, and anything else that comes to mind... but not with you--- with my best friend.
Ponder why it's "Girly" and "Manly" not "Womanly and Manly" or "Girly and Boyly"
Try and consider the feelings of every person on the planet before making a decision
Live on pinterest
Manly things I like to do:
Eat barbecue, steak, and red meat in general
Be straightforward
Play video games
Channel Surf
Greet people with an upward head nod
Build stuff
Paint rooms
Watch Action/Sci-fi/Comic book movies
Quote StarWars
Make car screeching sound effects while driving by myself
(and on a related note) make up my own "danger" theme song.
Maintain a large bank of useless trivia knowledge
Make pretty dark cancer jokes
Be super sarcastic
I will offer an unsolicited anti-... as a Christian guy, those lists are kinda weird. To me, the man they describe seems like some sort of weirdo Hemingway meets teary-eyed hugh grant meets Buddy Jesus. Way manly, but also sensitive, but also '50s emotionless rock, but also a textbook Christian. Reading lists like that, books like Wild at Heart, etc. it makes it sound like to succeed at life, you must become a genetic cross of Mr. Darcy, Aragorn, and St. Francis. Good luck being or finding that, male and female world, respectively. I think goals and preferences and all that are great, and challenging yourself is good, but c'mon... people are different. There are lots of ways to be a good ________.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Phil. I find the second list pretty oppressive, and it doesn't even describe my gender. No crying at movies? No showing fear? It's not right to expect men to be more than human, or to have to perform, or conform their feelings to, a prescribed masculinity.
ReplyDeleteIt reminds me of that part of the TED talk you linked about shame, when a man tells the speaker that he believes his wife and daughters would rather see him "die on his white horse than fall off of it." That remark, and the idea that a man has one great cultural pressure, "To Fail at Nothing," has really stuck with me.
Also, #25, Never eat fried Twinkies any place outside a State Fair. I mean, come on. I hardly ever make it to the state fair. The county fair, or the city 4th of July celebrations, are perfectly fine places to eat fried Twinkies. :)