The Difference Between Men and Women and How we Complement Each Other
By Sarah Rodgers
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We are equal but different. That is how I would describe men and women. We are not the same, and that is perfectly fine. If anything, that is what keeps the balance. If we were the same, then we would be able to find equilibrium in the world. We would be tipped off our axis as the human race, and well, in reality, any species would be.
The drive to push to blur the lines between men and women, in my opinion, has caused more harm than good. My boyfriend and I joke about it sometimes. We respond very differently to things. He is a more rational and level-headed person, and I responded more emotionally to things. That typically is the dynamic between men and women, and that is fine. We serve to balance one another. If I tried to handle things the way he does, I would fail, and he would, too, if he tried to do things the way I did. That is a small-scale thing and one that is not the same for everything, but it was an example I could think of and could be translated into different things.
Odds are when you give an issue that needs to be solved, men and women will solve it in two very different ways. Men tend to respond to logic and women with emotions. One is not better than the other, but different situations require different things. I once got into a fight with someone, and my boyfriend told me I was being too emotional and gave me a rational way to fix the situation, and when one of his friends died, he tried to come up with a rational explanation, and I was able to help him express emotions properly. It is a balancing act like in any relationship. Men and women help bring equilibrium to one another.
Another example I can think of that I believe perfectly encapsulates what I am trying to get on about. My boyfriend and I live together, I am in school, and he is a full-time police officer. We have a gun safe. Inside of it is his gun for work and one he got for personal use, as well as ammunition. I don’t know much about firearms, so I’m not entirely sure what else is in there, but I know it is all the stuff for his guns. He has taught me how to use it and clean it being I’ve sat and watched as he worked with it and because he also wanted to make sure I could protect myself. He carries it when we go out so that if anything happens, he can protect me, and he tells me all the time how it is his job to protect our home and our future family. He firmly believes that as the man of the household, it is his job to protect it. On top of the safe is a small flower pot with an orchid flower and a small decorated tall cloth to mask the safe so it fits in with the rest of the room. That was my job. His job is to protect the home, and it is my job to make it.
He used to make fun of me when we went shopping for the apartment because I would pick out lamps, rugs, curtains, and other things, but once I put everything together, he would always step back and say it looked nice, that now he could see how everything fits together. It is the small things like that in which I believe make the relationships between men and women flourish.
You might not agree with me, and I’ve had many debates with students who I study psychology with who say that men and women are the same. It is all that you believe to be true. If you’ve noticed, when Emma makes the posts for the company’s Instagram, she always gives my posts a vintage aesthetic to them, especially when I talk about men and women. That is not only because that is the aesthetic I strive for in real life with the way of dress and movies I like, but also because it reflects how I believe relationships should be.
I believe in traditional gender roles, and I find that they work because they have been around for so long to the point I think they were perfected before we threw everything out the window and decided to start over. I find that my boyfriend and I are happiest when we don’t try to do the work or act like the other because it is not natural for the two of us. It might be for you, but not for us.
Men and women complement each other. We keep balance, and relationships are about finding the balance between you and your partner.
The equilibrium that keeps both of you above water.