Hey look, another post on gender politics! Herewego.
With Valentines coming, I was just thinking about how it always seems like it's supposed to be the man's duty in a heterosexual relationship to make all of the romantic gestures and say all of the sweet things. At least that's how it's portrayed in pop culture basically everywhere you look. You hear so much about cute things guys do for girls, things "every girl wants to hear", girls getting swept away by a guy's romantic prowess and sentimental word usage... Never the other way around.
Obviously, at least to me, these standards are bullshit. I think it's all about mutual effort and I figure most would agree. But I'm always curious if these things do have any grounding in reality. So, gentleman: how would you feel, assuming you're at least kind of the romantic sort, if a girl were to say all of those sweet, possibly cliche things to you? Assuming of course timing was right, it was genuine, blah blah. Or if she went out of her way to do something really romantic? Would you like it, or would there be some kind of notion about her being overly-attached?
Do you think you'd rather chase than be chased, and is that a facet of your masculinity or just personal preference?