The Battle of the Sexes

I'm taking an Interpersonal Communication class this semester, that's all about how to communicate intimately with people. She regularly divides us up into groups, and has us self-disclose, about our cultural differences, or our thoughts on her information, or communication issues in our lives. She's teach us how to speak where people can understand you, and how to be good listeners, while giving thoughtful advice. (I bet Fyrecreek'd do great in this class. She wouldn't even have to read the book. Overachiever;) )

Anyway, last week, she had us divide into groups of five and list all the different cultures and subcultures we belonged to. We had an Apache-Mormon, an Anglo-Christian-Bisexual-Democrat, a Palestinian-Muslim-Conservative, a Anglo-German-Catholic-Republican, and a Choctaw-Pagan-Independent. Couldn't have told us apart, couldn't have known who was what. It was awesome to see the diversity in our group, and insane to see all the differences in our class of 20.

Today, though. Today, she split the class by sex. She sent to boys to a room with a blue piece of paper, and the girls to a room with a pink piece of paper. Then, she asked us to write down every complaint we had about the opposite sex.

The girls set to work. 5 minutes, and we had three pieces of paper covered in writing. 5 minutes, and the boys had 3/4 of a page. Here are some highlights, in order of appearance, in the same size font as the paper:

Boys-
Girls never make their own decisions
Girls judge us by our appearance, not our personality.
Girls put too many details into their stories.
Girls interrupt the football game.
Girls are egocentric.
Girls have no self esteem.
Girls are too picky.
Girls take forever to get ready.
Girls have too many emotions.
Girls cry over everything.
Girls blame everything on PMS.*

Girls-
It's not always PMS--You're Just an Idiot.*
Guys leave to toilet seat up.
Guy pretend to listen.
Guys call us babe, they never use our name
LIKING SEX DOES NOT MAKE ME A SLUT
If you're going to bring home lingerie, please bring home my size.
Guys never want to talk.
Please put down the video game long enough to say "Hi".
If you ask us how our day was, don't just say "Yeah...uh-huh...That's great."
Why did chivalry die?
Burping and farting is great bonding with your guy friends. I don't have a penis.
Guys never make plans.
Chocolate, Flowers, and jewelry are not the magic fix-all.
Spontanity is planning to do something fun, then seeing where it goes. It is not, "Ah, crap, what can I make up and make it seem planned."
Hanging out with the guys? That's great. Have fun. Hanging out with the guys at a strip club. At least tell me the truth, don't lie and get caught later.
You flirting is fine. I laugh at another guy's joke? It starts WWIII.
Of course I'm always right. Life'll be easier when you figure that out.
You complain we have no self-esteem, but you judge us by our clothes, our faces, our lips, our boobs, our waists, our hair, and porn.
You will carry the trash to the counter, but refuse to actually place it in the wastebasket.
If we buy the wrong kind of beer, it's a catastrophe. Somehow, it's perfectly acceptable for you to not know the difference between a pad and a tampon.
We love you. Why are you so damned hard to live with?



(* These two were written completely independent of each other, without having seen the other sex's paper. They are also listed in correct order, and size, and resulted in the longest arguement. anyone else laughing?)