I’m sure everyone has encountered a situation where a guy says “oh, well girls always do this…” and you respond with “umm, no.” If guys don’t have sisters or have never dated a girl before – or even if they have – they sometimes just don’t know how girls act or do things.
Women have a stigma/reputation on needing to be pretty, neat, nice, proper, “gossiping”, etc. But actually, girls can be just as much of a “slob” as guys can be, or worse – let’s face it, it’s true! The male population gets false information from stereotypes in movies, TV shows, or stories because usually, that’s how female characters are portrayed within them.
Below are answers from a survey answered by girls and guys who attend Illinois State University, based on scenarios of what a typical girl does and comparing what girls would actually do vs. what guys think girls do.
1. Girls shave their legs…
What Boys Think: 48.7% of guys answered with once a week, with three times a week coming in second (17.9%). Since most guys have the idea of girls being “hairless,” there wasn’t a single guy who voted for the option “never”.
Reality: Girls really DO mostly shave their legs once a week! Every other week came in second, and every other day came in last. Since there are actually some girls out there who don’t shave their legs, 3.4% of girls in the survey answered “never.” – I really admire the ones who don’t!
2. Which type of movie are girls most likely watch?
What Boys Think: This one is surprising! Most guys selected girls liking rom-coms (romantic comedies) over chick-flicks, scary movies, comedies and romantic movies. Comedies do come in second, but at least they didn’t go with the general “girls love chick-flicks” stereotype.
Reality: Romantic comedies are a definite yes! Don’t get us wrong, girls do like a good chick-flick, but a good “laugh-till-you-pee” with a little romance kind of movie is where it’s at. It’s everything in one, and a little love and laughter is definitely the perfect combination – am I right ladies?! There’s something about laughing about love and awkward relationships, especially after a breakup, that really puts a girl in a better mood!
3. When girls go shopping they…
What Boys Think: Everyone loves shopping, but according to most guys, when girls go shopping, 48.8% of them said women go from store to store, look at EVERYTHING, try on EVERYTHING, but buy nothing. 20.5% of guys agree we like to window shop, and girls barely go into a store and shop for one specific thing for a quick and easy out.
Reality: Most girls DO try on and look at everything but usually buy nothing– good job, guys! I mean, it’s common sense to look at everything in the store. You have to make sure you don’t miss anything good! When you find something cute, it’s basically a “rule” to try it on because you don’t want to have to return it once you go all the way back home. We don’t end up buying the things we try on because sometimes it just looks good on the hanger, or we might say YES but our wallet says NO… 25.9% of females like the quick in-and-out, but I’m definitely not one of them.
4. How long does it take girls to get ready for a night downtown or a party?
What Boys Think: Most guys think girls take an hour to get ready for a night out, with an hour and a half or 40 minutes following. But there wasn’t a single guy who thought a girl could get ready in 20 minutes or less.
Reality: Despite stereotypes about girls taking “forever” to get ready, 3.4% of girls who took the survey said it only takes them 20 minutes or less to get ready. Most girls do take a full hour to get ready – I mean, if you had a full head of hair to curl, you would, too!
5. Do girls care about how they look for class?
What Boys Think: There it is, that stigma of girls caring how they look wherever they go. 51.3% of guys agreed that girls do care, and 48.7% disagreed.
Reality: Most college girls (72.4%) don’t care about how they look for class. Only 27.6% of college girls who took the survey care about how they look for class. Nobody has time to flirt during class, and why should we care about the way we look during our 9 a.m.? I’m lucky if I make it to class awake – no girl wants to worry about her appearance in the morning!
6. A group of girlfriends are at a party, and a guy comes up to them that they don’t care to dance with. What do they do?
What Boys Think: Since guys are the ones who have gone through this experience, most of them selected “say they have a boyfriend/girlfriend” (53.8%) and “ignore him and walk away” (38.5%). Only 7.7% answered that girls would just dance with him just to dance with him.
Reality: It’s sad but true: girls answered in the same order as guys. 55.2% of girls would say they have a boyfriend/girlfriend, 34.5% would ignore him and walk away, 8.6% would just dance with him just to dance with someone, and 1.7% said they would pretend not to speak English. Sometimes you have to have a “cop-out” because you just don’t want to dance with someone, and the easiest way out is to say you’re in a relationship or just walk away.
7. When a girl has her “time of the month” she…
What Boys Think: Sadly, guys will never really understand this one because they’re lucky and don’t receive a “gift” every month… Over half of the guys answered with girls cry, get mad, and are very emotional when it’s their “time of the month.” They also don’t think girls don’t do anything besides lay in pain (0%). And they really don’t think girls just eat everything (5.1%) – if only they really knew!
Reality: Most girls get on with their life, and some do get very emotional, letting people know it’s “their time.” But there’s a good 19% of girls who don’t do anything besides lay in pain, and 17.2% of them eat, eat and EAT – I’d definitely be included with the eating. It’s like you can’t stop sometimes.
I wish guys could figure girls out more, like when we say it’s fine when in reality, they should know it means, “No, it needs to go my way.” It would definitely save us time trying to explain our “language” to them – they should just know! I guess guys and girls, as kids would say, are just from different planets.