Gender Equality

I have been taught that girls are expected to "act like a lady" meaning we are supposed to sit with our legs crossed and be respectful. There is nothing wrong with that, but I feel as if less and less women are actually acting like ladies and less which is causing less men to act like gentlemen. The more that women are allowing themselves to be objectified and sexualized, the more men are going to do it. Another thing that I have been taught is to express my femininity. There is a show on MTV called "Girl Code" where girls discuss a wide range of feminine topics, often in a comedic manner. One of these topics was crying. All of the girls on the show talked about how much they love crying and how they do it almost every day. If boys ever did this, I am sure they would be made fun of for the rest of their life. It is a psychological fact that girls are more in tune with their emotions than boys are. I have two siblings, a younger sister and an older brother. One way that my parents have corrected behavior based on gender is with cursing. My brother has cursed in front of my parents many times and they usually never say anything about it. When my sister and I accidentally let out a much less "severe" curse word, we are reprimanded for it. When we challenge this and say that they allow our brother to curse but not us, they respond:"It's different for girls. It sounds way worse coming out of a girl's mouth than coming out of a boy's mouth." This has always been something that bothers me. Going to an all girls school has taught me that there is much more to your identity than your gender and we can not allow our gender to determine our identity. It is frowned upon for girls at the Mount to wear make up to school (not by the administrators but by the actual students). Everyone says: "Who are you trying to impress by wearing make up to school?" However, I believe that girls are much more judgmental than boys when it comes to appearances, at least girls pay more attention to the details than do the boys. I expect the boys to be gentlemen in a romantic relationship. I have the privelege of associating with boys who are taught to be gentlemen, but not all girls are this lucky. I think it is different depending on where you grow up, but for the most part, my parents and the media have taught me to expect the boy in the relationship to pay for things and hold doors for women etc. This idea has been around for a long time and I do not think it should change. However, what is indeed changing is the stereotypical role of the man to be at work while the women stays home and cooks and cleans. It is becoming more and more socially acceptable for it to be the opposite case, which is a good thing. Women should not be set on the domestic role; they should have the option of doing whatever they want.