Tuesday 22 April 2008

A Thought Experiment on Gender Stereotyping

A quick follow-up to my previous post.
Consider this - the model, while being an exercise in sophistry, could just as well have been applied keeping a woman's preferences in mind over the intelligence and looks of the available male population. Even assuming that women may rate intelligence more highly, the recommendations for intelligent, single men would pretty much be the same - get pretty and get out there.
So here's a question - would your reaction to such a prescription be:
(a) that is so true - women would kill for a guy who has exfoliant and isn't afraid to use it;
(b) looks-schmooks - girls just love guys with a sense of humour;
(c) girls select guys? Hai hai what evil, western influences are you perpetuating!; or
(d) where does love fit into all this? Every girl should have the right to fall for the first ugly, dumb jerk who comes her way.
Answer in the comments please, and preferably specify your gender as well, if not your identity.

19 comments:

  1. I don't think girls know what they want.

    Maybe they float around between (a),(b) and (d). And when they have one, they might want one of the others. Hehe.

    Exfoliant?? That's one of those words that should rarely (or never) be used on a guy's blog.


    [It looks like this comment itself has turned out to be an exercise in stereotyping.]

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  2. My, but that's a lot of gyaan.
    You're asking for trouble with that sort of talk.
    Why this sudden outpouring of machismo over exfoliant? Real men only need to shave, eh?

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  3. Hosanna Heysanna Sanna Sanna Ho
    Sanna Hey Sanna Ho Sanna
    Hey J C, J C won't you smile at me?
    Sanna Ho Sanna Hey Superstar

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  4. someone's taking your trip jc, and very well, too...

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  5. We should get all indignant about the sacrilegious quality of that comment.

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  6. Who's we?
    @anon - [8-)] that will have to do for now.So are there any other blogs that you leave your wonderful commentary on are am I the only one for you?

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  7. Aren't you one of those God-fearing Catholics? Can't miss a mass and suchlike?

    Getting googly-eyed over this commenter eh? [8-)]

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  8. "Why waste your breath moaning at the crowd?
    Nothing can be done to stop the shouting"

    The smiley was meant to portray my glasses, not to show that I am getting googly-eyed.

    I note that except for your admonition on exfoliant, no-one else seems too bothered by the question I posed. Oh well, on to the next post then.

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  9. I answered the question! But the game of love/coupling is more like a zen koan than a supply and demand curve.

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  10. the extent of women hitting on eligible men is dependent on:

    (a) the proportion of homosexual men present in the population of a given city

    (b) the nature of work in the city e.g. delhi has more research places than bombay which has more corporate places - each attracts a differnt crowd; this will influence the attitude of the women. For eg, if there is a greater presence of career minded women then there should be more men out there; however you also need to think about the nature of the career minded woman - i.e. is she thinking of career after or before marriage?

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  11. that's my parents' dog-wouldn't be fair to lay claim considering I don't really have any involvement in his upkeep. One crazy little dog he is.

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  12. Where's option (e)- why on earth do girls have to end up with a guy in the first place ? Fish, bicycles and all..

    As for (a), I don't think exfoliant is to be feared (it's just a fancy way of saying 'scrub'), but maybe excessive hair gel is.

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  13. Fish, bicycles and all? As in... you prefer them to guys?

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  14. Well if you're the type to choose option (e), you don't need to bother with the intelligent guys, do you? The intelligent guys might, however, feel differently, in case they were stupid enough to watch Chasing Amy. The question was asked from the perspective of what do the intelligent guys need to do to get some action.

    I have no issues with exfoliant/facial scrub etc. It's useful when you've lived and worked in Andheri East and your skin attracts all kinds of muck. I agree on the excessive hair gel bit - I can't figure out why people would think it attractive to have their hair stand up. Phallic reference, I suppose, but if you've got to advertise it, you're probably insecure...

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  15. Oooh. That reference to advertising is a lively debate waiting to happen. It is relatively easy to claim that one is always advertising -- in the sense that one's outward persona (clothes, hair make-up etc) are reflections of one's personality. This is true even when people claim to be indifferent, because that indifference is telling.

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  16. damned if you do

    damned if you dont

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  17. Advertising per se is ok. It's a question of what you make your USP.

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  18. And intelligence is less phallic than spiky hair eh?

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