Is the diminishing significance of traditional gender roles and gender stereotypes not a step forward?

Question

Women now no longer have to conform against their will to fit into traditional gender roles, men have more freedom to decide whether they wan't to be married or not. Instead of seeing people as just a woman or just a man, we see them as they are, as individuals. It would allow all people to be more full human beings. We are moving toward more individual freedom which for me is progress.

progress = more individual freedom\liberation\choice

Answer 1

Yeah but what about all the people who choose to follow the traditional role all on their own? You need only look around at this forum to know that they are looked down upon.

Answer 2

Of course it is. What exactly is your point?

Answer 3

Full human beings? Individual freedom? Freedom to do what? Freedom to make more money? Freedom to delude ourselves into believing that being 35 years old and acting like you're 21 is ok? We've become a narcissistic 'me' society. Your notions seem to be postmodern ideals which are basically justification to lead irresponsible lives. It is little wonder why our kids are so screwed up.

Traditional male attributes like: Nobility, legacy, honor, courage, loyalty, valor, etc, are important. Diminished gender roles have diminished these (and much more) attributes so that we can lead irresponsible lives.

Answer 4

Yes, this is what I believe. Instead of forcing people into two narrow moulds we allow people to be themselves.

Answer 5

Whether traditional gender roles have significantly changed I don't know.  Women throughout history have generally been expected to take the main responsibility for raising the children and looking after the home, besides any other work they do, and this still seems to be the case, judging by what I read on the Marriage and Divorce section on here.

And a lot of women still seem to be very keen to be married, judging by the number of books there are on the market about how to get a man, how to keep him once you've got him etc.  There are a lot of discontented women on Marriage and Divorce complaining that their boyfriends "won't committ" etc.

Whether people nowadays are any more 'full human beings' than they have ever been I personally doubt.  Human nature doesn't really change all that much.

Answer 6

Yes this is good, the problem is that it is difficult for average people who want the traditional set up to make ends meet.

I'm fine with the way things are but then, I'm self serving and hedonistic.

Answer 7

Yes, the diminishing of traditional gender roles is a step forward.  

And, because many people consider feminisation to be a bad thing, females have been more successful than males at doing activities that were once only allowable for the opposite s*x.

Answer 8

Yes definitely

Answer 9

It is indeed a giant step forward.  The conventional classifications of masculine and feminine traits are only statistically significant, and will only help us in empathizing with people we interact with everyday.  True understanding is only possible when we have specific knowledge of each individual's characteristics.  

An individual is an INDIVISIBLE set of characteristics and beliefs that should not be confused with the general mentality of a group.

People like HD TV now, don't they?  So why don't they like HD people?