That took about half an hour for me to read...caveman speed
I think a lot of equality has brought about good changes...I think there is more respect for women, instead of the old "dolly bird" carry on film thing that went on in previous generations.
Finally we are seeing that intelligent women do exist and can tackle most tasks that men do. More and more women are unfortunately in most cases being left as single mothers and are having to raise a family on their own so because of this they are becoming more independent and stronger for it, I think it can also mean that there is a lot more distrust and that it is harder to believe that people can be genuine without having something up their sleeve.
There are two types of independence, the ones are happy to share the burden, to work together in a relationship to make it right and that means both people putting the effort in. There are still those who do not and there are still some women who expect the man to do and pay for everything even though they earn a wage...likewise there are still men around that expect women to do everything around the house, even if they have a career. Old habits die hard it seems.
So yeah masculinity has changed. Tell me if 20/30 years ago if heterosexual men would have comfortable going clubbing in pink t-shirts and not worrying how they would be perceived? Tell me 30 years ago if women would have found someone like Jude Law attractive, despite all the grooming and make up he appears to use?
I think it should do, whether it has gone too far is another case, but hey in some cases it is a competition and while both men and women are prepared to stand up and say "hey I’m tough enough to not care what anyone thinks" secretly we all do; because there is more sensitivity.
Sex in The City and desperate housewives are two programmes designed to show female independence but in both of those programmes the female characters have a need for love, affection and relationships with men...so independence can only take you so far.
By the way you may see this in my next blog on catholic ireland, because as I write this it seems like a good subject!