vive la diffrence

When I was a Director of SHARE Family Services I was attending a celebration of Volunteers for the SHARE Family Services and I was sitting at a table with two older men who worked at the Thrift Store. As the luncheon progressed we started talking and the conversation moved around a number of topics. I asked about how they came to be volunteers and they talked their commitment to the organisation. We also talked about grandchildren, travel, retirement plans and genealogy, as well as many other interesting topics, not once did we talk sports or cars.

At the end of the meal, two of the woman volunteers came around with home made desserts and the woman seemed to know the two men very well, and the woman asked what we were talking about our conversation was not loud, but we were all enjoying the discussion--at the time we were talking about joys of travelling.I was surprised when one of the men said, "Oh you know us, we were just talking guy stuff." The ladies laughed and said, "Oh ya, sports and cars, we know you guys." then moved on to the next table. I didn't say anything as I did not want to contradict the man. When the ladies were out of earshot, we continued our conversation about travelling and about children.

I thought about this for a few days and wondered why had the women assumed we were just talking sports and cars, and why did we agree with that thought.  Have men and women of my generation been conditioned to believe the stereotypes that have been created for us? I hope not, but I suspect that it may be safer for some to hold onto the stereotypes, so we don't have to question our own beliefs.