Are there straight men from Venus?

If so...I think I am from Mars.

I have lately been confronted by the old traditional gender roles and the prejudices associated with a relationship... and I find them unnervingly false. Throughout most of my youth...and yes I am aware that I am still young and perhaps even still a part of "youth", I have been told through various social gatherings and TV programs, movies etc that the man is supposed to have a certain role. The 21st century brought with it a sense of equality between a man and his woman and at least in my part of the world such an accomplishment has been reached...at least to a certain level. We as women expect our man to help out at home...do the dishes, clean the bathroom and do laundry, and men are aware of this and try to meet our expectations (at least some of them do). Yet some jobs are categorized as "man-jobs". Examples of such jobs are: changing the light bulb in the ceiling (of course we can't stand on a chair and do this ourselves...we are way too short), change a fuse (don't want to be electrocuted...), download a new program to our computer (want someone else to blame if a virus breaks the computer), get said program to work, assemble IKEA furniture and connecting the VCR to our television set. And that brings us to my state of confusion.

Last night I was watching TV with the boyfriend...and I mentioned how I was a little torn about what to do tomorrow night (a.k.a tonight) regarding the Oscar's. I never get to watch this show as they always tend to air it when I am at work or have some other obligation. -But this year I actually don't have anything scheduled...apart from the "surprise" screening at the film club which usually tends to be a good film...and I love surprises...so what to do? So he, the boyfriend, mentions that he has a VCR and perhaps he can tape the show? -But, he has no idea how to hook up the VCR and how to make it work. Being the somewhat technical person I am, I thought no more of it and started to explain to him how to hook it up and how to set the VCR using the SCART cable...at which point he manages to ask me: "What is a SCART cable?"...Ok.

So I, the woman, start explaining what a SCART cable is and while I am doing this he rolls his eyes and exclaims "It's strange how, with all our technology, they havent been able to make a DVD player that can record stuff..." At this point my jaw hit the floor and I started laughing uncontrollably.

I love my man, bless his heart, but he is not very technical. I have realized that we contradict the traditional assumptions regarding a relationship. He loves 'Desperate Housewives' while I prefer 'CSI', he bakes wonderful cakes while I assemble IKEA furniture and he does the dishes while I connect the VCR. And it really doesnt matter who knows how to do what, as long as it gets done. I dont care that he doesnt know how work the VCR...'cause I do. I love that he knows how to bake a cake...'cause I dont.

Besides, as he put it; "At least I have a power drill..."

I think it is time we as women let go of our prejudice. We want to be equal to men so it is time we let them be equal to us as well.

After all it is the 21st century...