I must admit this idea was given by my friend during a conversation while driving through Philadelphia downtown. I am merely wording what has been told to me, which I thought was very interesting.
A city is like a living being with a gender. The bigger and busier the city, the more emphasized the stark difference in the gender is.
The city is a male in the mornings. Busy, powerful, strong. Think of the noise. Action. The hustle and bustle. Traffic snarls. People commuting to their work place. Dust and dirt. Sweat and hard work. Concrete. There is something masculine about the activities denoting power, business, and strength. Action is the very sinew of the city during the daytime.
The city is a female during the evening. Calm, rested, beautiful, bright, and shining. The lights of the tall downtown buildings like jewelry reflected beautifully in the water. It seems the city is all decked up, ready to go to an evening party. Softer compared to the day. More beautiful, more peaceful.
Strength, power, and action being the main attribute during the day.
Beauty, softness, and calm being the main attribute at night.
Some people would have objections with the stark gender differentiations here, but I thought this was a very interesting observation. Men in general are strong and women in general are softer and petite. I have never really seen inanimate objects as living beings with certain characteristics, but come to think of it, it does make a lot of sense.
What do you think?
sunshine
7 comments:
wow, never really thot of it that way to be honest...what abt powerful, dominating, strong women?
Since you asked, I've somehow always associated the female gender to a city, my city that is - New Delhi. It's got the features of an old lady, strong and confident, but someone who has the frailities of old age seeping through as well... and sometimes, it's interesting how obvious that becomes, as you're walking down one of your favourite lanes...
Actually, I would associate strength and hard work as much with women as with men. It's just a different kind of strength.
I disagree.
1st about the gender…Sumhow as I was reading the observation the only thing that came to my mind was all the strong women I knew and all the cam men I knew.
For starters..how does one define storng? Are we just talking abt the physical aspect? ‘coz that wasn’t the 1st thing I thot of..i was thinking mentally strong…n my mom came to my mind. Even Busy n powerful reminds me of many women I know. ‘coz im accustomed to seeing women..wake up in the morning..juggle work n cooking at home n then rush off to work. Powerful agn reminds me of women ‘coz I’ve seen how even if the small decisions in a home is made by the men..teh women are very important contributors to the big decisions.
Beautiful, bright and shining..reminds me of chidren..not of women; not of men.
n then about the city. No, even the description of the city doesn’t seem correct to me. I am reminded of several cities that never sleep…Blr,Vegas, Mumbai,Delhi… Night is when I see the hustle bustle of Blr traffic thru which I use to struggle to get home. It leaves me wondering IF a city ever becomes calm. Mabbe li’l towns do. But cities..never..not in my mind.
I like the thots this post triggered in my mind. Thank you.
Hey that was a beautiful comparison. I totally agree with it.
The Wandering Minstrel- hehe, I am sure exceptions are always there, but I admit even I hadn't thought of such an interesting comparison.
Iddy- I agree, and that is an interesting comparison as well. However, gender stereotypes are not uncommon.
Lekhni- I agree. But gender stereotypes are sometimes deep rooted in the mind.
Pavi- I get your point. But like I said before, gender stereotypes are usually easy to think of- dad going to office and mom cooking, and unless you think a little out of the box, this happens. Nothing wrong with it though according to me, it is just the way it is.
Sapi- :)
Cities are females when they are beautiful! :)
BTW, i am not a pro-female or an anti-male! :) :)
Cheers!
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