Men from Mars- Women from Venus. Or maybe not?

A journalist addressing the women or men audience would possibly use this sentence to begin an article concerning gender roles, reproducing the dominating idea that there is a certain way men and women behave and that these ways are so different that there is no point of convergence or communication. And this very idea is dominant due to the fact that human socialization is strongly based on their sex.

Boys and girls realize that separation early enough in their lives, and also the social invitation to acquire ideas, attitudes and behaviors that are expected for their sex. When someone refers to sex, they refer to two complimentary dimensions; biological sex, which addresses the anatomical differences between men and women and the social aspect, the gender, which addresses the psychological, social and cultural differences between men and women. Biological sex significantly defines the different standards that people are expected to meet in order to be included in the community, whom in reality are extremely confining, as a person can be either one thing or another, without being able to be anything else in between or anything other than that.

“ I really want to join the army’s special forces so others can see that I am strong and I deserve to be respected as a man.”
P., 24 years old

Thus, men and women grow up, reproducing stereotypical thoughts about which characteristics they should have. Men need to be capable, aggressive, rationalist, while women need to be caring, emotional, sensitive. However the case, men and women differ to their characteristics and in comparison, which many times is being done automatically, the manly characteristics are being valued more positively, thus essentially hiding the asymmetry in the distribution of rights, privileges and duties between the two sexes.

How does people perceive a woman choosing to evolve professionally and not to have children? What can be thought of a man choosing to stay home and raise his kids, while his wife works? In an institution where the CEO is a man, not much older, of higher education, with years of work experience, what are the possibilities of the subordinate women, of younger age and with lesser years of work experience, to express a different opinion than his? How does an older age man employee of a public service face a younger and better-looking woman employer? These examples are indicative, but everyone knows the answers. Despite the fact that things have changed a lot, when it comes to behaviors, the reality is that the attitudes behind the gender roles are reproducing traditional ideas, where by definition men have greater impact and power. A woman being too sexual and autonomous is a picture not accepted, neither by men nor women, as it questions the traditional images about sexes, the same as an emotional man.

“I feel like I don’t have the right to deny sexual contact, as if I have to always be ready to deliver.”
Th, 23 years old.

The feminist movement has brought changes in the gender roles, which have probably caused more trouble, both to men and women, in different levels. Women, are more like jugglers, that are being asked to juggle between work, children, companionship, while men are searching for their role by questioning the image of the man- carrier, claiming their rights to emotions, using, when needed, the social power that stems from their sex. It seems that the revolution that began with the women movements has not been completed and no one, men nor women have fully defined themselves, in the new, different data.

And it surely looks like in the ongoing conversation, transgender people are yet not being included, that is the people whose gender (appearance, behavior, work) differs from their anatomical sex or their legally registered sex.

In the deep social crisis days that we are going through, there are chances and possibilities to question everything we’ve learned so far about the way men and women act. Because in reality, there are not men or women ways of behavior, but people that deep down have the same needs for evolvement, creativity, connection and emotional interaction.