Lately the Chauhans seems to be grabbing my attention. A few days back it was Sonal from the movie Jannat and this time its Anuja Chauhan. Anuja has just released a chick lit book called The Zoya Factor. (“Chick Lit” is a term used to denote genre fiction written for and marketed to young women). While launching the book she specifically mentioned that though it is a chick lit book she would welcome men as well to read it!
Her statement set me thinking. Do men really need an invitation to read stuff meant for women? When I look around me I see them more interested in reading that kind of stuff than they would like to admit!
Although the term convergence is primarily used to refer to technological advances in television, telephony and the internet there is another kind of convergence which is silently taking place. It’s the gender convergence in our society. It’s more seen than spoken about. Men are beginning to sport long hair, wear jewelry, visit parlors, get makeovers…some even love to cross-dress but let that be! Women too love riding bikes, getting wild tattoos and basically do stuff which used to be in the domain of men.
Human behavior in places like lounges, lobbies and waiting rooms are worth noticing. Such places usually have a small collection of newspapers / magazines and turn out to be wonderful places to observe people, especially men! I am often amused how most men would reach for a women magazine say a Femina, Women’s Era etc. If there are people around then it is attempted as discretely as stealing documents from the CIA. If the lounge is crowded then men already reading these magazines will try and swap it for a business or current affairs magazine as soon as possible. I don’t know why men fall shy of accepting these facts of life. One of reasons could be that such indulgence in chick lit materials is often observed as a passing phase in a guy’s life. The end of this phase results either from the satiation of the curiosity element or those attempting to understand women by reading or listening to what women read or listen to just giving up! With the advent of FM radio and the Internet more boys/men seem to be tuning into the just-for-women radio stations or logging into Sunsilk gangofgirls.com which is supposed to be ‘for girls only’!
Gender convergence cannot be classified as good or bad it’s just a part of the evolution of social behavior. What stands out though is the fact that men often seem to be more apologetic about doing things only girls are “supposed” to do whereas girls take pride in doing the “guy thing”. Men would love to spend hours watching Victoria’s Secret or La Perla on Fashion TV but ask them to go and buy some lingerie for their partner and almost all of them will chicken out. Only a fundamental shift in the male psyche can bring about any meaningful gender convergence and as long as you hear even one person say “don’t cry like a girl” instead of “don’t cry like a baby” be sure it hasn't happened.
Her statement set me thinking. Do men really need an invitation to read stuff meant for women? When I look around me I see them more interested in reading that kind of stuff than they would like to admit!
Although the term convergence is primarily used to refer to technological advances in television, telephony and the internet there is another kind of convergence which is silently taking place. It’s the gender convergence in our society. It’s more seen than spoken about. Men are beginning to sport long hair, wear jewelry, visit parlors, get makeovers…some even love to cross-dress but let that be! Women too love riding bikes, getting wild tattoos and basically do stuff which used to be in the domain of men.
Human behavior in places like lounges, lobbies and waiting rooms are worth noticing. Such places usually have a small collection of newspapers / magazines and turn out to be wonderful places to observe people, especially men! I am often amused how most men would reach for a women magazine say a Femina, Women’s Era etc. If there are people around then it is attempted as discretely as stealing documents from the CIA. If the lounge is crowded then men already reading these magazines will try and swap it for a business or current affairs magazine as soon as possible. I don’t know why men fall shy of accepting these facts of life. One of reasons could be that such indulgence in chick lit materials is often observed as a passing phase in a guy’s life. The end of this phase results either from the satiation of the curiosity element or those attempting to understand women by reading or listening to what women read or listen to just giving up! With the advent of FM radio and the Internet more boys/men seem to be tuning into the just-for-women radio stations or logging into Sunsilk gangofgirls.com which is supposed to be ‘for girls only’!
Gender convergence cannot be classified as good or bad it’s just a part of the evolution of social behavior. What stands out though is the fact that men often seem to be more apologetic about doing things only girls are “supposed” to do whereas girls take pride in doing the “guy thing”. Men would love to spend hours watching Victoria’s Secret or La Perla on Fashion TV but ask them to go and buy some lingerie for their partner and almost all of them will chicken out. Only a fundamental shift in the male psyche can bring about any meaningful gender convergence and as long as you hear even one person say “don’t cry like a girl” instead of “don’t cry like a baby” be sure it hasn't happened.
1 comment:
i enjoyed this one though i am happy that some of the men i know are quiet different from the one you've just described.....
Post a Comment