Weekly Response 2/28--Kellen Gable

In the chapter "Sex, Power, and Intimacy" Shaw and Lee talk about how "heterosexuality is organized in such a way that the power men have in society gets carried into relationships..." and I think the biggest factor that plays into this is, because it is true, is the gender roles that we have in our society. Women are told to be submissive and soft and men are told to be dominant and loud and that transfers to relationships, particularly heterosexual relationships. Men are told they have the power in life and in society and they believe that and take it into their day to day lives, including their relationships. I think the way children's relationships also affects the way men and women form romantic relationships later in life. Little girls are told that when a boy teases her or even hurts her it means he likes her and those girls grow up thinking that it's okay when boys abuse them because they don't even think it is abuse. This mindset probably also plays into why there are so many women in abusive relationships, this and many other factors of course.