Blog 8

While discussing gender roles in class, such as “Penelope” by Dorothy Parker, I kept thinking that what was talked about was purely heterosexual lives.  Although this is a problem and many stereotypes exist between LGBTQ+ relationships, a good majority of problems with masculinity and femininity exist mainly in heterosexual relationships.  There are numerous recent examples of men violating women because they said no to a date, sex, marriage, or any other type of communication.  There is this excuse going around that "not all men" are like this.  That is understandable and very true; however, the conversation isn't over just because you ensured people that you weren't like that.  Something needs to be done about the millions of women who get assaulted for refusing something.  We live in a world where 97% of rapists do not face any jail time for their actions.  How is that acceptable?  Of course, it’s not just women who get sexually assaulted.  Men do too.  An example would be Shia LaBeouf admitting that a woman had sexually assaulted him during his art exhibit.  Unfortunately, most of the men who say "not all men" are violent towards women are absolutely silent and do not support Labeouf and some have even said that he had to have enjoyed a woman lusting after him.  Men aren't sex maniacs.  Gender stereotypes are just harmful constraints that don’t allow people to express themselves.