As a continuation of the previous post, here are some of the stereotypes that guys have about women:
Women are crazy.
I tried for a long time to make sense out of their actions and statements. Once I accepted that women were "crazy" (many older guys had insisted they were for years), it seemed to take a huge load of pressure off me. No longer was I trying to rationalize moves that women made that got me into crazy analysis cycles. When I just throw it all out the window and dismiss it as "crazy," it makes it easier to deal. We don't really think women are insane, we just say it so we can be done thinking about their antics and move on.
PMS makes women angry.
One time when I was working at a café over the summer in college with a guy and a girl who were friends of mine, the girl was clearly cranky early one morning while she cut bread. My friend and I, always eager to annoy her, swooped in. Eventually my buddy said what every guy has said at some point in his life:
"Uh oh, Rich, must be that time of the month."
She turned to him, brandished the bread knife in his face, and said: "GET A LIFE."
But sometimes when we've done wrong or want to make sense out of why a girl is mad at us, we try to blame it on possible PMS. Honestly, sometimes a woman's anger does look hormonal. I have said something to a girl one day that she laughs at, but then a week later she bites my head off when I say the same thing. But I've learned not to make things worse by suggesting that she's PMSing.
Women want to settle down.
Guys keep a close tab on their friends and how much pressure they are getting to marry their girlfriends. We also notice our friends that are girls who seem to panic as their girlfriends get married one by one. So, guys are very sensitive to the fact that women want to settle down and are more vocal about it than guys. There is even a biological argument: Guys sometimes assume that women want to have children more than anything, especially as they get older. We meet plenty of women who don't project that they want to settle down, but we assume most women really want to settle down.
Women are impractical.
The day after Christmas, my sisters, mom, and nieces packed up the car and went shopping with their gift cards. The guys in my family could think of nothing worse than smacking up the mall the day after Christmas. I have four pairs of shoes, ranging from casual to dressy. My sister had about ten boxes of shoes when I helped her move. Who needs all those shoes? You get the point — sometimes we look at what women like to do and we just think it's impractical.
Women don't understand sports.
Luckily, I grew up with two sisters who were Division I college athletes, and my mom is still obsessed with the Baltimore Colts (they left Baltimore in 1984).
So, I know women love sports. But are they as obsessed with sports like guys are? I read about sports every day, and go over stats. And I do find myself telling my sisters about University of Virginia and Boston College teams — where they went to school. There is no reason women wouldn't understand or know sports like guys do if they were as obsessed. I just think guys across the board are more sports-obsessed than women are.
Women like bad entertainment.
When I come into the apartment and my sister is sitting there watching the Real World/Road Rules Challenge, I implore her to lower the volume. I can't stand to hear those people speak. I love History Channel and Discovery Channel and important sporting events. My sisters love US Weekly and Websites like OMG. I like to read Wikipedia and read about music. Well, maybe I find Gossip Girl strangely intriguing when my sister is watching it, and I like US Weekly too. And sometimes I get stuck watching terrible Lifetime movies for hours...OK, maybe everyone secretly likes all this stuff.
What are some of the stereotypes that men believe about women that bother you? Did I miss any, and do you think any might be truer than others?