Opinion
Stereotypes show differences between boys’ and girls’ ideas
February 28, 2008
“I’m sick of guys; they’re so typical.” And “girls—they’re just so difficult.”
He can only devote himself to one thing at a time, whether it’s sports, music or taking on new leadership roles. But she handles school, a job, her boyfriend, her problems, painting her nails daily and her friends’ problems consistently.
She’s usually more poetic than he is, but only because she thinks too much. He only thinks about his one devotion and of course, girls.
She spends her afternoons off watching shows like “The Hills” and getting caught up in Lauren’s latest love issues. He occasionally flips to “The Hills” and wishes there were more girls that look like Lauren in River Falls. She reads the preceding line and rids herself of her recently consumed lunch.
He never wants to dirty his shoes. He sometimes keeps them boxed up for months just to be able to break them out once all of the snow and other “mucky stuff” goes away. She has more accessories to worry about than just shoes, and she knows that shoes aren’t generally the focal point of her outfit, yet she’ll still pay far too much for a pair that can only be worn with that really long pair of Silvers.
She is full of detail and wants to think that everyone will notice the green stitching in her jeans. He bypasses the detail to get to the point: he supports the Twins and nothing else matters.
She reposts chain letters within 380 seconds so she can have a chance to find true love within 24 hours. He doesn’t really know what chain letters are… and if he does, it’s only because all of the girls in the fifth grade were passing them out like scratch-n-sniff stickers once upon a time in kindergarten.
He is generally easier to hang out with. He doesn’t change his mind just to agree with her to avoid a fight. He’ll say something if he wants to, and if he doesn’t have anything to say, he won’t say anything. She’s manipulative, either agreeing with someone to avoid a fight now, but only to disperse catty remarks about her behind her back.
She is obsessed with adding Facebook applications to see which 1950s pin-up girl she is, while he answers questions to solve what kind of drinking song he follows.
She is wonderfully capable of being an inadvertent home-wrecker, understands that it’s wrong, but keeps the fling going while expressing to him how sorry she is. He is rewarded for nailing his high school teacher. Suddenly, the heavens open up and he is declared a hero, while she is nothing but a common whore.
A friend recently told me that guys are like algebra and girls are like statistics. With guys it’s basic math, really (it’s just that sometimes the variables change). His answer is simply the same or different. With girls, all the information is there. You just have to take a step back and look at it from a different viewpoint. But guys aren’t to blame for not wanting to do this. No one really likes statistics, anyway.
Aside from the common stereotypes we’re all aware of but keep spreading around to aid in the beginnings of a reality, there are, of course, similarities between them.
Both sexes hate getting sick, are deep-down hopeless romantics, have been told that there’s something better out there, worry to the point of anxiety attacks, will have had at least one morning of wondering where all those bruises came from, wish to be a member of the opposite sex for a day and have at least one person of the opposite sex they can tell all their secrets to.
And besides all that, although they may never admit it to your face, they both secretly want bigger, firmer chests.
Abby Maliszewski is a student at UW-River Falls.