I believe that our society is beginning to abandon traditional gender roles.
Chefs on the Food Network aren't always women and general contractors on HGTV aren't always men.
Progress is a slowly turning wheel but if art (and reality tv) imitate life, then at least we know the wheel is actually turning.
A new study conducted in the sociology department at The Ohio State University by professor, Zhenchao Qian, and doctoral candidate, Dmitry Tumin, have put together a study to see what life changes are responsible for weight gain.
They have discovered that marriage and divorce are two leading life events for people over the age of 30 that can cause "weight shock" - i.e., a tendency to pack on extra pounds.
For men, the risk of weight gain increased most after a divorce. For women, the risk of weight gain increased most after marriage. Men and women who married or divorced were more likely than never-married people to have weight gain (slight, moderate or significant) in the two years after the "marriage transition" either into or out of a marriage.
Are you ready to be knocked back to 1950?
Qian and Tumin weren't able to figure out why women gained weight after a marriage or why men gained weight after a divorce, but Qian had no trouble projecting a completely subjective gender-biased assumption about why women gain weight when they get married and men don't.
Behold:
"Married women often have a larger role around the house than men do, and they may have less time to exercise and stay fit than similar unmarried women," says Professor Qian.
Oh. Sweet. Mercy.
Now, I'm willing to concede that women might have a tendency to gain weight after marriage.
It could be because of laziness. ("I can FINALLY stop worrying about what I'll look like in the dress!")
It could be a lack of money. ("Wait, how much is the mortgage? Time for spaghettios and boxed mac n cheese!")
It could be an honest to goodness lack of interest in anything but your new husband. ("Why would I go to the gym when I could spend time with you?")
Qian thinks the weight gain is because women are more likely to be in their aprons doing the dishes, baking pies (yes, I do appreciate the irony here about pie baking) and having their husband's martini ready when he comes home from work at 5pm than they are to be in their yoga pants in downward dog at the yoga studio.
Ironically, Qian also said that men are likely to gain weight after a divorce because they lose the thing that helped keep them in better shape: a woman who cooked healthy food for them.
I'd like to hear some feedback from readers on this one. I personally feel that my impending marriage won't be a weight shock for me since my relationship has actually helped me get into better shape and participate in a healthier lifestyle than the booze and pizza filled lifestyle I had when I was a singleton.
I guess time will tell.
I did, however, get a flowered, ruffled apron at my bridal shower...
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Sally wants to know: What do you think about this? Am I projecting my fear of being assigned traditional gender roles into this? Or am I justified in my disgusted reaction to this study? Find her on Facebook and give her your perspective on gender roles and weight gain.
And, if you haven’t found twoday magazine on Facebook yet...what are you waiting for?
erikdolnack
I don’t think this is hard to guess: women tend to gain weight after marriage because they relax after marriage. The slimmer single girl must maintain her trim figure to lure a partner in an age that treats women like Barbie-doll mannequins. If the average executive could marry a perfectly life-like android of a dream-woman, he probably would today.
Men, on the other hand, gain weight after divorce because they let themselves go. This is another relax: although unlike the married woman, it’s one of depression. When we’re depressed, we kinda’ stop caring about our appearance. We let ourselves go. I think the divorced man becomes a bit jaded and bitter. The fairy-tale romance illusion is forever shattered for him. In an almost subconscious rebellion, he packs on a few pounds in self-mockery of his former happily-married self. It’s kinda’ like vandalizing a priceless work of art.
But in both cases, I would argue that gaining weight is a release of sorts. It takes great effort and resistance to sustain a trim, attractive figure, and the standards for what’s considered a “hot” and sexy body in western society today keep getting more and more unrealistic to obtain. Unrealistic goals are unobtainable in the long run and are actually undesirable in society. Ours is a very shallow and unhealthy world today. We are a nation that’s lost its soul (or rather, has sold its soul).