I saw a video on social media, and it made me think about tradition and how important that is within our lives. Specifically when it comes to relationships. Let me explain. The video on social media was of a woman proposing to her boyfriend. Which, I think is great. I think that if it works in your relationship, then that’s amazing. But it raises the question about whether or not you are a traditionalist? And if this is something that you would do? Even if it’s not something you would do, could you support other women in doing it? In my current relationship, this wouldn’t work. However, I have been in relationships where this could have happened. It didn’t. But hypothetically speaking, it could have.
I think this is controversial though, as I like tradition to a certain extent. I like the idea of an old
fashioned love story. Where the man sweeps the woman off her feet. He proposes. They get married. She has kids and stays at home. Yes, that kind of tradition. But for me personally. I don’t necessarily think this works for everyone. And I especially don’t think everyone needs to live like this. I am definitely going to get a lot of comments around this, but this is how I feel about my own life. I don’t think it’s sexist.
That being said, if you want to reverse the roles in a male/female relationship, then I am happy for you. I’ve been there, and I didn’t like it. I lived it for a very long time. I was the stereotypical “strong” one in the relationship. The breadwinner. The problem solver. The everything. Like I said, I didn’t like it. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t work in other relationships. Nor does it make a man any less of a man. I think the problem is the way we judge people and their relationships. In fact, I’m strictly speaking about male/female relationships, and the truth of the matter is that there are many other types out there. And there should be.
I think people have a problem accepting when someone else has a different relationship than theirs. Or has different views about relationships. We have come so far with respect to women’s rights, that this seems like the next step. And if that’s the direction we’re going, great. But I think the direction we should be going is towards acceptance. If a woman wants to propose to her boyfriend, then we shouldn’t have a problem with that. I certainly don’t. But if a woman wants to have a man propose to her, I don’t think we should judge that either. It doesn’t make her any less independent. Or any less of a modern woman. It simply means that is her preference.
I haven’t really talked about men in this post. Mostly because I don’t really know how they would feel in this situation. I think it would depend on the man. In the same way that it depends on the woman to propose to a man. Each relationship is unique. I hate when people (family, friends) suggest that your relationship should be exactly the same as theirs. What works for them, may not work for you. If a man is ok with being proposed to, then good for him. He also doesn’t have to. I think we just need to take a step back and let people be who they are going to be and stop thinking so much in terms of gender roles and tradition.