If You’re A Woman – Who Wears The Pants In A Relationship Matters
When it comes to power in romantic relationships, men are often cast as dominant and women as deferential. But working against this are caricatures of domineering women with their “hen-pecked husbands” and “whipped boyfriends.”
At the same time, popular culture is replete with representations of striving and self-serving women – from celebrities like Beyoncé to the TV show “Girls” – who engage in relationships with men as social equals on a level playing field. The idea that during relationship conflicts, women can be just as volatile, combative and aggressive as men – what researchers refer to as “gender symmetry” – is also gaining traction.
But appearances of gender equality can be deceiving.
In my most recent study, I asked 114 young adults about their heterosexual relationship experien...