When given the task to act like a boy for a week, I did not know what to expect. What exactly do “boys” do differently than girls? I decided to embrace the typical male stereotypes and just see what happened.
Step 1: Being Emotionally Unavailable
At some point in life, you’re going to meet a guy who’s detached. He may be like that from the beginning, or it will happen suddenly when he catches the feels and decides he can’t go down this road. Not saying all guys are like this, but it was good to test to try out. It worked perfectly.
It was fun to have all that intangible power. Having guys sweat for a change was surprisingly rewarding. If anything, girls should understand the importance of playing hard-to-get.
Step 2: Using Pick-Up Lines
In order to achieve this, I used a mixture of corny and suggestive pick-up lines. The results were the same for either type. All men I sent a pick-up line to either found it hot or played right back.
Step 3: Leading Several Individuals On
To begin this pursuit, I made a Tinder. It’s not that Tinder is strictly a tool for guys to use, it just would easily introduce me to several guys I could start leading on. I even made my bio say, “The type of girl your parents will love and neighbors will hate,” which worked like a charm. But, after X amount of people, it gets confusing. You begin to question what exactly you’ve told them, who likes certain things, and almost always end up confusing names. The struggle became real.
Step 4: Living For Sports
Although there are plenty of guys who aren’t extreme sports fans and girls who could easily beat a guy in any sports knowledge, generally sports are associated with guys. I spent a week watching various sports games, reruns, and getting updates from ESPN. I would text my friends about the game to see their opinion… they weren’t amused.
Step 5: Drinking Beer
I won’t lie, I hate beer. Once upon a time, I thought it was great and then it killed me when I mixed it with everything you could imagine in one night. My stomach still cringes at the idea of beer but it’s the ‘typical’ guy drink to get at a bar. Three times this week I went to the bar and ordered a beer, changing it up each time. One day was a Corona, another Bud Light, and the last Miller Light. It was great how much cheaper they were compared to my normal mixed drinks… I think I’ll still stick with my mixed drinks, though.
It is true that girls, for the most part, care more about their appearance, worry about norms associated with them, and feel the need to project this sense of being perfect. It doesn’t mean, however, that there are definite roles guys have that girls can fulfill and vice-versa. Honestly, it was refreshing to not care how others perceived you. I think I’ll stick with my ‘girly’ drinks though, thank you.