#male/female relationships

[iamjamesmatthew]

The interesting dynamic

[ardour-slips-blog]

Every time I try to forge a professional alliance or establish a friendship with a guy they think I'm coming on to them. It's fucking frustrating!! And then I hear some men talk about how the feminist movement is wrong and that women aren't nearly as sexualized or objectified as they claim. Really? I'd like for you to try being a female for a day. I'd love to be able to be myself, express feelings of friendship for, smile at, or even acknowledge the existence of ONE MAN who didn't automatically think I wanted his dick.

[scribblingserf]

I was at dinner with my aunt tonight, and I mentioned that in my interactions with men, especially within romantic relationships, I will often not say what I want. I said I think that women are taught to be more passive from a young age. She said that it was simply a sign of my insecurity. I try to admit my faults as best I can, but "insecure" is not something I would call myself and I do feel like there an expectation for me to be more passive compared to my male counterparts. Also, she (she's a civil engineer, so she's dealt with sexism a lot in her career) told me she thinks that change will happen over time by women more or less responding to a sexist situation with "That's your problem, and I'm going to keep moving forward." My response to that is yes, ok, that's a great mentality to have for you, but it's not doing a whole lot to change social constructs. The average unknowingly discriminatory man is not going to change his views just because you were successful. Personally, I think the first step towards the changing of the treatment of women is acceptance and fair treatment of females in the media, which in my opinion can only happen through reasoned activism. Agree/disagree?

[familieswithoutfathers]

Examining Jamaica

The society of Jamaica is a very insular one where everyone knows everyone (or at least their families) which can make it extremely difficult for someone to really investigate the society from within. This blog is a collection of research and illustrations of some of the problems in Jamaica.

Preconceptions of the countries impact on Global issues and a presumption that the world knows about Jamaica in its entirely; leaves many things unsaid and too many stereotypes perpetuated. I want to examine Jamaica, illustrating some of its issues and asking why?

Why they occur?

Why they have become an accepted part of the culture?

My initial work will focus on male/female relationships and how it has lead to the "matriarchal" society of this island.

[siochan-leat]

A Query

Okay, so one thing I've noticed are the questions that seem to come up around my living situation.

I live with a guy. Yes, I am 32 and I have a male roommate. I have known him for a very long time ( 16 years I think ...) and we get along really well. He's probably the best roommate i've ever had, but it fascinates me when I mention to others that we live together, because there is the automatic assumption that he is my boyfriend.

Nope, he's not.

And then I get asked, "So you live with a guy you have no romantic or sexual desire for?"

"Uh, yeah?"

Why is this so fucking strange? Is it so unbelievable that I can reside under the same roof with a member of the opposite sex and have no desire to get in his pants and he has no desire to get in mine? Are platonic relationships so "out there"?

[everythingblithe-blog]

YES THIS. I wish I could show people this every time I hear, "Oh, your roommates a dude? You guys fucked yet? Do you want to? Does he want to? You should be friends with benefits/should date/friends make the best lovers/etc."

Even today, when we called PGE to get me added on to the account so I could pay the bill I got asked, "So you two are married." To which I replied, "No. Just roommates." The lady apologized a couple of times, and it was fine/I wasn't offended or anything, because I'm sure she gets married couples calling all the time to add their partner on to the bill. But still... It's just really frustrating. We are only friends, he's just my roommate, and we are both ok with that/that's just how it is.

(On a side note, Laci Green is an awesome person. You should check out her tumblr and/or youtube account, because she makes a lot of good points in all her videos)