Saturday, March 04, 2006

TMA 07 - Masculinity & Femininity

Just to keep you up to date with what I'm not working on, I have to do the following for submission by the 31st March:

In no more than 1500 words, with careful reference to two of the following works, show how attributes traditionally associated with masculinity and femininity are contrasted:
Pygmalion - A Play by George Bernard Shaw
Medea - A Tragedy by Euripides

Don Juan - A Symphonic Poem by Richard Strauss
Wide Sargasso Sea - A Novel by Jean Rhys

Now I know what you're thinking; the boy can do this, no bother. Your faith in me is touching but, faithful blog-readers, I'm going to have to cut myself some quality time if I'm to make any impression on this. We shall see but it's looking good so far. The dear wife has taught herself to do the ironing one-handed so I'm relieved of those duties and, as I've bought her a new ironing board, then surely a mere broken wrist won't hold her back from producing crisp white shirts for the wee fella to play football in, leaving me to concentrate on the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake.

The preceding paragraph illustrates attributes traditionally associated with masculinity and femininity. Discuss, not more than twenty words.

7 comments:

west coaster said...

You know Lingo, you've got spunk. I like that in a girl.

Binty McShae said...

I don't do trad gender roles either... I'm who I am and screw the image. If there was ever a girlfriend with me when I took my Grandmother flowers (her favourite ones, I know what they are!) the gf would get the thanks and the kiss... if people ever visited for dinner they would wrongly assume that it was my partner at the time who had cooked the magnificent 5 course meal... my clothes are nicely ironed not because I am 'lucky' to have a lady who 'takes care of me' but because I sodding well know how to do it myself... and I even kindly baked a cheesecake for a young lady to take to a dinner party, which she then passed off as her own ("you should try some of ****'s cheesecake! It's devine!" - "really, thanks.")!

Sorry to rant but that shit strikes a nerve... it's all a load of bollocks perpetuated by the media.

west coaster said...

I can see you're a sensitive person, Binty. I like that in a man.

Unknown said...

I now believe that gender is a social construction. By linking gender to physical sex (male and female) we can “biologically” and “scientifically” suggest what roles are best for each sex and work on reinforcing those roles. BS in my opinion.

west coaster said...

Rebecca, I can see your point but shouldn't the role of "Reverse Parker" be exclusively male? Regarding your point about linking gender to physical sex ... God, you've got lovely shoulders. I like that in a woman.

Unknown said...

LOL, you crack me up! And I was thinking of getting rid of that picture!

Anonymous said...

I think there is a crisis of masculinity going on in urban centers in this country! Let's face it, there is supposed to be some meaning to the OPPOSITE sex. What has happened to it?

I wrote a novel on the subject: MAN CAMP (Random House). Take a look and have a laugh.

Best, Adrienne