Nicole S. sent us screenshots of two sets of books she saw for sale online at Barnes & Noble. They provide us with some very important information about how men and women differ, as well as the types of things/activities/emotions that have been masculinized or feminized. Not sure if you’re speaking to a man or a woman? Check to see what pet they have with them:
And don’t be fooled into thinking parents are interchangeable. They serve very different roles. Dads are for playing with. Moms need to stay in the house and bake while you’re out playing catch with Dad, and then console you when you get hit in the face with the baseball:
I would provide some more sociological analysis here, but I’m distressed to realize I’m not fitting into appropriate gender roles, so I need to run to the animal shelter and trade in my dogs for a couple more cats to go with the one I ended up with when an ex-boyfriend abandoned her, which he must have done after realizing owning her was feminizing him.
As for understanding me through my cat, the other day I was ignoring her while I read a book so she came up and bit me on the nose hard enough to draw blood, so apparently I’m either a masochist or an aggressive self-involved brat, depending on whether you judge me by my cat, or by what I put up with from her.
Comments 40
nomadologist — August 22, 2010
This familial division of labor also advances the idea that it takes a man and a woman to raise a child, since the sexes each have innate roles which cannot be performed by the other.
L — August 22, 2010
So I must be a man!
My doggy even sleeps on the same bed with me and the cats both hate me 8D
Moody — August 22, 2010
This cat/dog thing is interesting to me. I always think about how when I first met my boyfriend 10 years ago, one of the turn ons was his love for his cat. He was and still kinda is a bad-ass looking guy with a love for metal music and wrestling but a deep bond with his female calico.
A couple years back, he dropped a lot of money on surgery to prepare her jaw that was apparently injured in a backyard brawl with another animal. What did I learn about my man through his cat? I don't know, that he's a caring, nurturing, and loyal pet owner?
Alison — August 22, 2010
I'm utterly delighted to note that the blurb for "How to Understand Men Through Their Dogs" reads "there are 68 million dogs in the United States alone, and half of these pups belong to men."
Way to make a nonsense of the binary opposition you're enforcing... and then carry on regardless.
Luisa — August 22, 2010
Afer these life-changing books, I certainly have to review my life - the fact that my golden retriever is said to be my "doggy-mirror" (affectionate, lazy, loyal, persuasive and a total sucker for backrubs) must mean I behave like a boy;
the fact that my mom doesn't cook because she's a tax lawyer who works with cases that go to our countrie's supreme court means that she's not lovable;
Yeah, that makes sense.
Karla — August 22, 2010
I'm frightened by what it means that I own neither a dog or a cat, but a parrot... I do not posses enough of an education to begin to guess what that says about me, or about my live in partner of opposite gender...
Perseus — August 22, 2010
I don't really understand the perpetually offended individuals who are motivated by some drive to find examples that reinforce their negative outlook on gender and society. Sure there are going to be books reinforcing gender stereotypes, but so what? Society moves at its own pace, and progress is slow. Talk to the young men and women in America and around the world and you'll see how their thinking has changed from their parents regarding these stereotypes.
Carolyn Dougherty — August 23, 2010
There's nothing sexier than men with cats:
http://cuteboyswithcats.tumblr.com/
May — August 23, 2010
All I can say is men and women aren't binary.
Scapino — August 23, 2010
http://www.amazon.com/Its-Dogs-World-Four-Legged-Living/dp/0345514459/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_2
The female author of these books apparently owns a dog.
...
Kristi C — August 23, 2010
That's nothing
http://navelgazingmidwife.squarespace.com/navelgazing-midwife-blog/2009/12/23/lets-read-this-kids-book-together.html