That said, I really believe that men and woman are meant to have different roles, no matter who they deeply are. It's like the rich man and the poor man; they are born into different roles and must live it out. It is on this note that I say that I am strongly, strongly, strongly against any kind of homosexuality, and my previous statements do not justify it at all, but that is a different debate.
But how is it that homosexual couples have different gender roles than heterosexual ones? It's not as if, for example, if two homosexual women are together, one will adopt the female role and one will adopt the male role. This is a stereotype that is popularised in the on television and on the internet (particularly in yaoi fiction; with the
seme being the aggressor with particularly masculine features, who is dominant, and the
uke, the receiver, who is often depicted as more feminine in comparison and is the receiver/target for the
seme.) - I know a pair of lesbians and both of them adopt a fairly feminine role towards their relationship. Sure, you will get couples who adopt different gender roles, but if you're going to assume that for all homosexual couples then the media's tricked you yet again.
Why should men and women have to adopt a particular role, no matter, as you said, 'who they deeply are'? Why should men and women have to conform to a particular gender role that is set up by society? If you accept that gender roles are a social construct, who decides these gender roles? Why do people have to abide by them? Currently there are thousands of people who do not, according to you (read: gays and lesbians), but how is this affecting society in a debilatating(sp?) way? How is two men having sex right now affecting your day-to-day life, other than it clashes with your views of gender roles?
Your view is clashing with
their view of gender roles, you know.
What's deemed as 'acceptable' by a social group isn't any different from highschool peer pressure. You'll do as your told otherwise you'll get ostracized or bullied until you conform. But why can't I be who I truly, deeply am? This is how I think I will be the most happy and satisfied with my own being - why can't I do this just because you or x amount of people don't like it?
Perhaps you think differently; let's say that you view gender roles as a religious construct, rather than a social one (well, religion
is a soc-anyway). I'm not sure what religion you conform to; judging by your previous posts I'll hazard a guess at Christian.
I am a female, bisexual tomboy. Why should God tell me how to behave? I don't believe in God. The laws and gender roles that are present in Christianity don't apply to me, because
I don't accept them. They are someone else's standards, not mine. Why should it bother me that God tells me that I should be a virgin until I am married? That I should be subservient to men? I don't care about God; that's someone else's beliefs, not mine.
If we apply this thinking to gender stereotypes being a religious construct, it meshes very closely to gender stereotypes being a social construct; they differ from person to person (or religion to religion, or person to person, judging on how they view interpret their faith or how deeply they follow it) and they only apply to people who let them, much as it might feel that they should or that they do. Religion, as I'm sure you know, means something different to everyone and everyone inteprets it differently. How is it, then, that religion should be the basis of gender roles? Christianity, for example. How could this possibly be applied to everyone when there are scores of people who don't give a damn anyway? Scores of people are from different cultural or religious backgrounds.
Note: I'm not an athiest. I just think differently about religion than you do; also attaching 'if you're an athiest, ignore this' is a bit silly in a debate. People are going to argue about your religion in the debating hall whether you want them to or not. If you don't want people to challenge your religion, then don't use it as a basis of your argument, or don't mention it.
erugh, I'm sure this whole post is just a ranty ramble that doesn't make much sense, if so, I'm sorry. I just woke up half an hour ago and I'm still dozy.
