Gender Role Reversal Experiment

In conventional relationships, men and women are expected to act and behave a certain way; men, or the boyfriends are expected to be chivalrous and the women are supposed to be classy and usually expected to make the man look good, basically because men are seen as political, wherein they interact in terms of power and strength, and taking care of a woman is a man’s show of strength, and the way that the woman acts or shows class also improves the man’s social image. On the other hand, women are seen to be “weak” and fragile, so in a relationship, it is expected that they are not able to pay for themselves on a date, or that the man must always bring the woman home after dating. This kind of relationship or gender roles have been established since time immemorial, we could see tribes behaving the same way, women are fought over and seen as a trophy, and tribe wars are basically political struggles between men. Now, what happens if we switch gender roles, that the woman now takes care of the man instead of the other way around.

The experiment was done by staging different scenarios in various places in katipunan. What the volunteers did was to portray a gender role reversal wherein the female will act like a gentleman by several gestures like holding doors open, pulling the chairs for the man, carrying their books, acting like the woman will pick up the guy from his house. The guy then acts in a way that demands the woman to take care of him, like asking to be picked up, or demands to lend him money or buy him food. The experimenters wanted to determine whether or not they will be judged according to how they act as a “couple.” We think that even if a couple does show a reversal in their gender roles, then they will not be judged differently since our society today is more liberal and a feminist movement is empowering women to be treated equally including having equal responsibilities.

As reviewed in the videos, the people who were around the experimental couples did not actually react differently, they just looked at them briefly but nobody reacted in such a way that showed judgement or interest in the scene. In this current context, people don’t judge others anymore based on how they act out their gender, some couples are even composed of two people from the same gender. Our current culture is more tolerable and liberal in a way that everyone is free to express themselves how they want, and the woman now, along with the feminist movement, is allowed to be more of the individual that takes charge in the relationship instead of the other way around. The experimental couple could not be anymore considered as deviants because society already accepts people who take different gender roles, and the difference between the roles of the man and the woman in the relationship now is less bounded by norms. Maybe in the past they could be considered as deviants because it was uncommon for people to take up gender roles not appropriate for your biological gender. Another factor why people weren’t surprised at the gender reversals could be that women are already gaining empowerment from society and that they are no longer bound by the way men see them. Back then, women could not fight for themselves because they had no power and voice to say that they are being oppressed, they were somewhat pushed to the sides and not given noticed, seen as trophies and objects to own, now there is a shift in the way that people view women and it is allowing women to actually be independent, thus seeing more women working, and less women choosing to be housewives. To fight as a woman back then would mean fighting the standards of society. It would also mean that one is not accepting the ways of the society. It could be seen as a threat to society, and thus women were judged if they spoke up, and seen as lesser than men in almost every aspect, seeing them as mere child-bearers and not capable humans in society.