03 February 2014

Date a traveler, Do or Don't

Man travel with bag
It could be a boy or a girl... does it change anything by that?
from ualucky@flickr
During the weekend I stumbled upon two articles related to travelling and dating. The first one was Don't Date a Girl Who Travels while the second one was Date a Boy Who Travels. My first reaction to each of them was: "what a pile of bullshit!". Clearly it was not something with me as a target audience.

But after a while of reading both articles, I realized something very striking and deeply saddening. They end up portraying a very harmful social expectation of gender roles, just deepening the current inequality.

Travel
A childish view of people and relations, but certainly not cute as this picture
from susivinh@flickr
Whereas in the first a boy looks for a down-to-earth girl without ambitions and independence, to be maintained and dependent, the second show that a girl should aspire to a boy with experience, determination, and drive to dazzle and impress her. I don't know, or really care, the gender of the writer in each case... it's largely irrelevant.

Every argument against a girl who travels could be made against a boy who travels. Likewise all the arguments for the boy who travels could be used to argue for a girl who travels.

Why cannot we grow up as society?

As for me... I prefer something like this


"... a girl with passion, dreams and wit."