Wednesday, January 24, 2007

A Note On Gender Perceptions, Or How I Am A Big Closet Sexist

So we're at the Fred Meyer the other day.... and as the checker bags our last items, those of the person behind us in line roll to the front: two tubs of Hagen Daas (Cookies and Cream and something else) and a Twix. Earlier a woman had been standing behind us in line. I thought to myself, "Man, that is one sad and lonely evening she has planned." I looked back to see if she was weeping. or bleeding. or, um, okay, okay, you got me: I looked to see if she was hot. Yes, I'm just as shallow as you feared. ANYWAY, as I was SAYING... I turned around and it was in fact a dude behind us. For whatever reason, I immediately revised my "that is so sad" assessment and thought, "ooh, nevermind: romantic evening plans!"

I think it's because I think of eating a whole pint of ice cream by oneself as a female thing. If their team loses The Big Game or they get fired, TV doesn't represent men as eating a whole tub of ice cream, but that's like SOP for TV ladies in any kind of distress. What's weird to me is that when I thought there was a girl behind us, I didn't think she was planning a romantic evening. Why am I predjudiced against girls bringing home the sexy pints of creamy goodness? (Let's just pretend that it was decent ice cream, and not that bland Hagen Daas stuff, for arguement's sake, okay?) Why is the primary image "Girl eats entire pint by self, a la Bridget Jones"? But for dudes, it's "Dude impresses girl with romantic gesture, gains entry to pants."

6 comments:

Eric said...

Your football team doesn't need to lose to enjoy ide cream with a little pig-skin. We all know how well Phish Food goes with every saturday morning in the fall.

Sydney said...

Well, if it had been fish food my gender expectations would have been totally different.

Seph said...

Wait, you're saying that if I just offer random girls tubs of ice cream, they'll offer me entry to their pants? Shit, I'm gonna start carrying around a cooler.

Eric said...

I think the best chance for you Joseph is Ben & Jerry's new flavor: G-H-Banana. Don't worry baby, it's suppose to fizz a little when you make it into ice cream soup... Assuming they're still conscious at the ice cream soup stage.

Sydney said...

Dude, Joseph don't need no G-H-Banana! Joseph is so awesome he could get a girl with, like, Fish Food! That's right, not Phish Food. Haddock flavored ice cream. And Joseph could still get some. Actually, now that I think about it, G-H-Banana would actually be a pretty hard sell. I mean: Banana?? Ew!! No one likes Banana!

Joe Streckert said...

Wow- my assumptions would just be "they like ice cream." I mean, who doesn't, really?