One of the exercises that has yielded many fertile results for me has been the “Ladies and Real Men” exercise I’ve blogged about before.  It’s pretty easy.  Just write a page or two or three starting with the phrase: “Ladies always” or “Ladies never” or “Real men always” or “Real men never” and let your guard down – way down.  Write as fast as you can and don’t pause for any reason, until you have filled the page.  I am always surprised by what I write, even though I’ve done this exercise many times.  Quite apart from being fun to write, these exercises show just how stupid – and how deep – gender stereotypes are.  Here’s another one I wrote:

 Ladies always cover their knees with their skirts, and if they show their panties they blush painfully and stutter as they apologize. Ladies always say please and thank you and they always look up through their eyelashes at men, in a silent plea for protection. Ladies always laugh quietly; they never roar with delight, and mostly they just titter behind their hands. Ladies always shut the bathroom door behind them and they never let anyone come into the bathroom with them, even to brush their teeth. Ladies always know what the current fashions are. Ladies always have enough money to look down on somebody else, only they never do because that would be rude, which ladies never are. Ladies always bring cookies for the after-church social and volunteer at PTA functions. Ladies always should wear hats, and when hats went out of style many ladies felt naked on top. Ladies always wear white bras, never black ones. Ladies always ask for permission. Ladies always follow and never ever lead.