When I was a teenager my Mom asked me and my older brother's friend to fix some shelves in the basement. Or maybe she just asked him. Either way I kind of hijacked the work and kept trying to do everything. I wanted to use the drill and the saw etc. Afterwards I felt really dumb. I ruined his chance to be helpful and acted like a brat. After that I have been more cautious about "showing off" with manual labor especially when there are males involved. I have heard that it is important to the male ego to be able to be strong and helpful and capable.
This week I went on a dinosaur dig with some people, many of them guys. At one point we had to change a tire and several other times there was things to be carried or lifted. Some of it I physically could not do or it would have been very awkward but some of it I knew how to do, and would have enjoyed doing but I stood back and let them do it. And hence was bored and felt kind of useless.
I am assuming the guys weren't saying I couldn't do it they just wanted to take the brunt of it, which is nice. I guess I just haven't figured out a good compromise.
Mostly I don't think the male ego is my responsibility. But maybe that is unchristian of me - because I can see what you are saying about the shelf fixing experience.
ReplyDeleteI have seen several articles about how men respond to their masculinity being undercut...they may not answer your question but they are interesting. Here are some:
http://www.washington.edu/news/2015/06/22/manning-up-men-may-overcompensate-when-their-masculinity-is-threatened/
https://hbr.org/2016/04/even-the-thought-of-earning-less-than-their-wives-changes-how-men-behave
Those were pretty interesting, I wonder if there have been similar studies done on femininity?
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