10 things society unfairly expects of men

Greta Christina's pieces are always spot-on, and these are no exception. She has two articles on stupid, unfair, and sexist things society expects of men, which can be found here and here. She has wonderful explanations for each item, but here's the short version of the list:

1. Fight, fight, fight!
2. Be a good husband/partner/lover -- but don't care too much what women think.
3. Be hot to trot. Always. With anybody.
4. Stiff upper lip.
5. Fear of being perceived as gay.
6. Make money.
7. Win, win, win!
8. Be physically strong.
9. Fix stuff.
10. Get it up.

I've stated many times before that sexist stereotypes hurt men as well as women (though some of my readers like to pretend I haven't). I think one of the reasons so many men are turned off by feminism is because they have the misconception that feminists are only trying to solve woman's issues and are ignoring those of men. That couldn't be anything farther from the truth. Feminists are concerned with equality between the sexes. To achieve that, we have to reduce sexism against men as well.

I suppose sometimes that's not obvious because as a woman, I feel more comfortable and informed blogging about woman's issues. That doesn't mean I'm disregarding the other side. As an analogy, I don't frequently blog about the issues of racial minorities - not because I don't think they're important, but because as a white person 1) I don't feel informed enough to do the issue justice and 2) I'm in a position of privilege so I don't have to think about racial issues all the time. But areas I'm not privileged in, namely gender and religion, are frequently on my mind, so they get turned into blog posts.

So, don't worry, guys. Not all feminists are castration fantasizing man-haters. ...You may want to avoid Thailand, though.