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From: kristen dailey
Date: 10/8/99
Time: 5:56:37 PM
Remote Name: 130.68.241.21
I found it interesting that you determined that your masculine qualities have come from your father and your feminine qualities from your mother. I have masculine qualities by your definition, I find myself to be an agressive person. I am not, however, from the same type of traditional family that you seem to have. I am not sure if I have any of the same qualities as my father, because I do not know him very well. I would imagine that many qualities that a person can possess are genetic. I know that by watching my brother Kevin I can see many faces my father would make. Everyone tells him that they laugh the same. My nephew Christopher makes the same face when he does not like something as I do. I think that the reasons why I have a strong personality are not adapted from my father, but instead just the opposite. My mother met my father when she was fifteen, married him at 21 and by 25 already had three of his children. She became the sterotypical housewife and never lived a day on her own. The night before her wedding she slept in the house she grew up in underneath her father's rules. This is why she had to begin again when my paren't marriage ended 28 years later. I think that the things I do in my life are the opposite of what my mother has done before me. I am always concious of doing things on my own, and have problems depending on anyone else for even the smallest things, like a ride when my car was broken. To resolve this, I bought a brand new car. I am not sure if this falls under a masculine or feminine role, but I am curious to know then where my masculine qualities come from. I am not sure that I think it is a fair statement to place caring under the category of feminine, as I would like to believe that is a characteristic that all people have, whether male or female. I actually find it somewhat amusing because stereotypically women are excused from their "bitchiness" because of three words known as pre menstrual syndrome. I think that beyond the home, masculine and feminine qualities are impacted by culture. Men, for the most part are told now that they can cry. (We've all seen 7th Heaven, haven't we?) I have male friends that cry more often than I do. And these guys are not wimpy like society would like us to think that they are, they are just able to admit that they do have emotions, and that these are okay. It may be categorized as a feminine aspect of someone's personality, but it is a natural reaction to dealing with something that hurts, or makes us angry, or stressed, or to happy to know how to react. I tear when I laugh too hard. I cry not because someone was there to show me how to, but because it helped. I always thought growing up that "boys" couldn't cry, even though I did. So what I am saying is that in addition to what we are surrounded with in out homes, I also think that culture greatly affects our masculine and feminine qualities, and interpretations of them. There are also some things that we are just born with. If you did not read the name on this before you read it, would you think that it had been written by a male or female? Does it matter?