Traditional gender roles have been consistently challenged
throughout the past hundred years as women’s rights, education, and work
opportunities have balanced out with men.
Women now are gaining higher education than men and striving for the top
jobs that 60 years ago would have been denied them. So basically now, women
feel power. They consider themselves equal to men and get angry when anyone
tells them they are not in fact, equal. Men have taken a massive hit with the
“power to the women” movement. Now that women are replacing men at the top of
the corporate ladder, there are fewer and fewer men who share the same status
as these smart girls. Men can now afford to be slackers and players because
since women want to have relationships, they compromise their standards on men
in order to do so. These women now view men with a suspicious eye. They assume
the worst because they have allowed themselves to be burned by others. It’s given guys a bad name, and women right
along with them. However, there are respectable men still out there, and I've
found a lot of them fit into the Southern Gentlemen category.
A southern
gentleman is a respectable guy. He was raised up on love, dirt, honor and
Jesus. He is noble and strong, but also humble and kind. This means he eats
whatever his host puts in front of him, stops to help a lady replace her flat
tire, and always keeps his word. Kind of
like in that Ford truck commercial, he’s just the all-around man’s man and the substance
of women’s dreams. If this sounds like just a regular good guy and not necessarily
a southern gentleman, you’re wrong. While you can sometimes find gentlemen in
cities, they are few and far between.
This is because southern gentlemen (though they can be from country areas
in the North) were born in rural areas. Because
they were raised in the country, they are content with what they have, though
this does not make them slackers, lazy or unambitious. They have just learned
to find joy in the little things. They
have appreciation for a sunrise and sunset because they slower pace in the
country have allowed them to notice and enjoy these things. You also know he’s
from the country, and often a small town, because of his attention to reputation,
family and loyalty. Since in the country most everyone knows everyone, family
name is important. You may take a swing
at him, but not at the ones he loves. At
least for me, this is the ultimate guy. Since I have friends whom I consider
southern gentlemen, it has been easy for me to learn what to look for in a guy,
and that girls do not have to and should not simply settle for less than they
deserve in a man.
Vaughn, Jackson.The Southern Gentleman. 8/29/13. http://www.thesoutherngentleman.com/index.html
