2002级英语教育2班　陈秋燕

People regard it as a matter of normality if a man takes the initiative in courtship, but if a woman does that, she is asking for trouble.

Traditionally, Chinese women should be stereotypically quiet, patient, and reserved, and to a large extent they were accessories to men. They didn’t have the right to pursue their own true love and were always waiting for men’s actions. With the improvement of women’s status and their newly¬--gained independence, it seems that this attitude should have disappeared nowadays, however, it still exists today.

There are evidences that amorous initiative is firmly reserved to men, and modern women, although not so subordinate as traditional women, are still in a passive position. It is because that the ambience of society doesn’t encourage women to take actions, that men still to some extent hold traditional attitude towards women, and that women themselves also accept the unwritten roles.

When referring to the issue of courtship, most of my male friends, though being college students, insist that initiative should be reserved to boys and girls should never be too positive, otherwise, it will scare away boys, that is, it is not suitable or reasonable for a girl to chase her affectionate boy. They even assume that even if a girl is cute enough to achieve her goal, she will not be really happy later on, because the boy will not cherish the love that isn’t pursued by himself. So this initiative is boys’ privilege while girls even don’t have the freedom of pursuing.   

It is said that women hold up half the sky. However, this half sky is shaded with some black clouds, not really cleared up. Hopefully, we can see some light going through the black clouds, shining out over the world.

One of my friends ever told me a story, which overturns this stereotype, about a brave young lady who had fallen in love with a boy, decided that she would take actions to show her attractions to him, not just waiting for nothing. With her love and perseverance, though there being so much external and internal pressure, she eventually succeeded in attracting the boy and became a heroine and a good example of the other girls who also saw the promising land from her. 

Hopefully, there will be many courageous women who try to break up the roles and the stereotypes to pursue their own happiness, making themselves the heroines.

（庄陶教授　批阅）