Once again, we delve into the weird and wonderful thoughts of some of Exeter’s male student body. This week they gave us some…interesting and fairly blunt answers. Every girl knows that the opposite sex can be pretty annoying at times, and often they live up to their stereotypes: not doing the washing up, doing gross things in the name of ‘banter’, or failing to understand the importance of Gossip Girl. But we do sometimes forget that we can be equally as frustrating – so what do they think of us girls?
1) Getting Ready
A common consensus amongst most of the boys perhaps isn’t a surprise: girls taking too long to get ready. A charming second year – who lives in a house full of girls – commented “I hate waiting for girls to finish their make up to go out – it’s so annoying. They all look great without it anyway!” His friend had a similar opinion: “Changing their outfit so many times before wearing the first one they tried on, and asking our opinion. To a boy, all those tops look the same anyway… I just want to go to the pub.” What these boys fail to understand is that for most girls, getting ready is half the fun of a night out! So sorry boys, this one’s not going to change any time soon…
2) Over-Communication
Our next lad is an extroverted second year who enjoys his single life, and had a more specific complaint: “I just can’t stand clinginess. Especially excessive communication – if I’ve not replied to your text yet, don’t then Facebook me and call me – I’ll reply when I’m ready!” Although his view seems a bit harsh, it is worth remembering that everybody needs their space from time to time – and this works both ways. A similar thought came from a first year Geographer – “it annoys me so much when girls are always on their phone when you’re with them – is my chat really that bad?” Bless! Although girls are stereotyped as being the ‘clingy’ ones, this is a pretty unfair viewpoint: guys can just as easily fit into that category. On the flip side, if your love interest isn’t paying you the attention you deserve, then they’re certainly not worth your time!
3) Drama
We then spoke to a romantic third year rarely seen without a girl. His ‘illuminating’ thoughts were “Don’t whinge. Especially, don’t say you’re not hungry/tired/annoyed when you are! Boys aren’t mind readers.” Ok, whilst we agree about needless moaning (this applies to guys and girls), sometimes some girls need to just let it all out. Whatever your relationship, communication is obviously helpful, and no-one’s a mind reader. Finally, a second year cricket lad had this to say: “It’s annoying when girls get so into the ‘Exeter bubble’ that they make huge social dramas out of really little things.” This can really ring true in Exeter, as it’s so easy to get into the mindset of university being quite small, making really little problems rapidly grow out of proportion. But what these boys seem to forget is that men can be just as dramatic as women, and sometimes even more so.
In general, it seems Exeter boys don’t mind most typical ‘girly’ habits – they just want us to talk to them and have some perspective. Whilst that doesn’t seem too much to ask, and we agree that everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, some Exeter lads may want to take a bit of their own advice from time to time! We’re pretty sure that most Exeter girls aren’t going to start changing their ways just because of male opinions…and that’s exactly the way it should be.
Photo Credits:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/photo/10328368.cms