Struan Somerville

Genders need to start getting along, and stop arguing with each other.

Buying flowers, paying for a meal or writing notes: these are all acts of romance that men do for the ones they care about. But society commonly overlooks the simple acts of kindness that men do.

Recently, I heard an opinion about how men “no longer yearn.” I find this very stereotypical, emotionally incorrect and unethical. It stereotypes the male gender and makes it seem as if we don’t have feelings or emotions: it’s a stereotype I’m tired of confronting.. I’m here to state that I am mad. Why do we keep making each other feel worse by bringing other genders down? What do we get out of it? Pride? 

Stereotypes are too common in the media and will always result in prejudice. 

A very big reason for these prejudiced beliefs is reality dating shows. Even though the picture painted is fake, these shows can fool people into believing that it’s the truth, or the name of the genre, reality. 

As a man myself, when I heard this idea of “men don’t yearn,” I immediately expressed my disbelief to other males who then agreed with me. A comment on the original article about how “men don’t yearn” expressed similar sentiments to me,  stating “This has to be rage bait.”  

A large number of adults and females agree with me on this topic and that the entire situation is chronically online. The original article being called “Where did the real romantics go?” feels like a punch to the gut. I have seen my own father go out of his way to show love to his partner, so people just telling everyone that men can’t be romantic feels very erroneous.

Toxic standards perpetuated in media and real life contribute to this belief. When I pitched this article, I was laughed at, and I believe this is a prime example of toxic standards. While the main idea of my point is gender equality, I’d also like to recognize that no one should be ridiculed just because they have a different opinion from you: such hostility will likely cause future squabbles which are unnecessary and will just cause harm.

Double standards are alive and true, and I’ve experienced them first hand. Why are women allowed to say men aren’t romantic, but when a man tries to defend himself, he gets laughed at? We have too many problems in this world to worry about romance problems that are one-sided. How about we look at the propaganda that we are force fed everyday on billboards, internet, and sometimes in our own classrooms itself?

Instead of having to defend ourselves against stereotypical baseless accusations, how about we fight for a better future and society than the one we are living in today? Stop pitting genders against others, and do better.