“Grow Body Hair”: 35 Behaviours Frowned Upon Based On Gender

Even though we’ve been in the 21st century for a while now, there are still certain actions that society deems acceptable only for one gender, despite both genders doing them.

One person asked, “ What’s something that both genders do, but is only socially accepted when one gender does it? ” and the responses were eye-opening. People share examples of activities or behaviours that are seen as normal for one gender but face judgment or stigma when the other gender does them.

#1

Forget public, I cried very briefly in front of an older woman in my family last year while discussing my concerns for the safety of some children in my family I care about, and recently found out she and other women in my family labeled me as “emotionally unstable” because of it and had discussed my crying as if I had lost my mind.

Ladies, if a man cries in front of you, it does not mean he is crazy or unstable. Sometimes things are just sad.

#2 Men can’t wear women’s clothes, meanwhile in reverse it’s totally okay.

#3 Battering the opposite gender. Y’all may say “nuh-uh” but it’s true. Women can casually slap, push, punch, elbow a man especially their partner and nothing happens. Let’s say the man cheats, and the woman with tears in her eyes slaps him in the face and walks away. Maybe sometimes consequences are faced, but more often than if the roles were reversed that woman just battered a man and gets off Scott free.

#4 Choosing career over marrying – God forbid a woman wants to be left alone with her money.

Being affectionate with friends – Men should be able to do this without fear of being labelled as weak every 5 minutes

Promiscuity – I dont think it’s good practice, but I mean it for both gender not just women

Not knowing any household chores – It’s a life skill, not a gendered one yet women tend to be on the harsher side of the stick

Being financially dependent – Same with household chores except men to be on the harsher side this time.

#5 Wearing a skirt!

#6 Invading peoples space and/or touching people in public. This goes for both children and adults.

A man can’t just walk up to a child and rub their face or anything without people getting uncomfortable (Joe Biden for example). Women do this all the time. When my kids were little women would always just walk up and touch their fair, their cheeks, their chin.

As far as adult touching goes I have several guy friends that are extremely muscular. The amount of times random women grab their biceps and rub them is hilarious. If a guy did that he’d get kneed in the balls.

#7 Smiling at children. I’m a Dad, if a baby smiles at me I’ll automatically smile back, and then inevitably get a glare from the parent because they think I’m some kind of creep (no, I just miss having small children!). My wife does it, it usually leads to a conversation about their children.

#8 Sleeping around women are typically shamed for it but men are seen as lads for it.

#9 If a women tells a 5 year old boy about handsome he is and of course jokingly calls him her boyfriend it’s looked at as cute/funny but reverse it to a grown man and 5 year old girl he’s a predator. Someone else pointed this out and I had to agree.

#10 Randomly touching ppl in public. For some reason it’s ok for women. My husband gets that often but if he says something hed probably be put up as the a*****e.

#11 Take off their shirt/top when they’re working outside on a hot day. Men do it all the time, but when a girl does it, it’s indecent exposure. Also, breaking up by text. This is something that society thinks only women do, even though I have seen female friends get dumped by text. It’s still a d**k move no matter who does it but it’s so stereotypically women who are guilty of this. The actual split is probably pretty close to 50/50.

#12 Stare at / openly check out others. Unless a girl/woman is doing it, everyone will call you a creep.

#13 Man over 30 who’s successful, decent looking, and single: “there must be something wrong with him”

Woman in the same situation: “she’s strong and independent” Lol what?

Well, that’s in real life anyways. On the internet the woman is shamed for not being a concubine for incels.

#14 Crying in public. Women are seen as emotional while men are seen as weak. But let’s be real, we all need a good cry sometimes.

#15 In a non-sexual way, loving children. Women can always say out loud how much they love children and being around children. A guy does it and it’s time to grill him about what he means.

I saw a comedian (I think Phil Hanley…) doing some crowd work and asked this woman what she did. “I’m a teacher.” “Oh, cool. What grade/age?” “Middle school. I like them younger.” “Nice. You know, a guy could never say that. There would be some serious issues with that.”.

#16 R*pe

Women can r*pe men too.

#17 Be a full time parent. It’s normal for women, but when men do it, they’re either “babysitting” their own kids, emasculated for not being “real men” and “providers” or given the side eye and lots of distance at the playground from the clique of SAHMs who are all there with their kids as well.

#18 Playing with toys. Some toys are marketed towards one gender or the other, but there’s no reason why anyone can’t enjoy any kind of toy.

#19 Hitting on strangers (in an unwelcome kind of way). Hitting on co-workers. I get this from both genders and it feels equally creepy, but women seem to think there’s nothing wrong with it.

#20 When a teacher sleeps with a student.

#21 Chatting with other people of the opposite sex when in a relationship. When a girl does it, she is just sociable and friendly and if her bf didn’t like it he’d be controlling and jealous. When I guy does it, he is a massive red flag, unfaithful and the girl should just dump him.

#22 Making jokes about domestic violence. If a girl says “If you cheat on me, I’ll do x and y with your genitals”, it’s often laughed at and applauded, while if the reverse was said, the guy would be criminalized.

#23 Age! Men can age and still be desirable but a woman needs to try everything she can to stay looking 20 yrs. old. Which is impossible by the way.

#24 Have full autonomy over their own bodies.

#25 Office settings in my experience – middle aged women seem to get away with borderline, if-not-outright sexual harassment of younger colleagues.

#26 Walking around shirtless.

#27 Getting bald.

#28 Pedicure.

#29 Grow body hair.

#30 >Being angry/screaming

When a man gets angry, people assume that someone has wronged him.

When a woman gets angry, people call her hysterical.

Being sad/crying

When a woman cries, people sympathise with her.

When a man cries, he is treated as a weirdo or a wimp.

#31 Use sex toys. Perfectly acceptable, or even considered hot/sexy for a woman. If a guy uses a sex toy: he’s considered weird or creepy.

#32 Talk about emotions.

#33 Fart.

#34 Having dating standards .

#35 Hanging around in the park near the playground.

Shanilou Perera

Shanilou has always loved reading and learning about the world we live in. While she enjoys fictional books and stories just as much, since childhood she was especially fascinated by encyclopaedias and strangely enough, self-help books. As a kid, she spent most of her time consuming as much knowledge as she could get her hands on and could always be found at the library. Now, she still enjoys finding out about all the amazing things that surround us in our day-to-day lives and is blessed to be able to write about them to share with the whole world as a profession.