This super viral Facebook post about what women want from men will make you cringe

Poster of the movie, What Women Want (2000)

What Women Want is the name of a 2000 Hollywood romantic comedy starring Mel Gibson. The plot goes how a male chauvinist Mel gets an electric shock from a hairdryer and the next day he wakes up to realise that he can hear the innermost thoughts of every woman. And he realises that every woman dislikes him.

Why did I tell you about this?

Because of this post:

It has more than 16 lakh shares and more than a million likes.

Actually this is nothing new. It has been going on since forever, in WhatsApp groups, in daily life, in stories, television serials—literally everywhere. What women want has puzzled men for centuries. And what men want have always been simplified quite easily.

After all, men need only food and to be taken care of, or simply, be a man-child, incapable of cooking his own food. And of course sex, that is a given.

Representational image.So we all believe that women are complicated and need a lot of attention.

Actually, I agree. Women want these qualities in a man, and if she gets all of these in one, I mean there’s nothing like it. Why should boys have all the fun? If women are coming out and saying look, these are the things I am looking for, it’s great. Because half the time, she doesn’t even have the liberty to say ’no’ to men.

Also, well, women are more articulate about their needs and requirements then—nothing held back, unlike men who fail to say.

Representational image. Why should boys have all the fun?

Now, this is precisely why one needs to take such posts with a pinch of salt. They, in the guise of laughter and ‘it’s only a joke’ simply manage to recreate and firmly establish stereotypes that being a ‘man’ and a ‘woman’ seems to be all about. Why cant' men also want a long list of qualities, can also demand similar things. Well, actually, they have been. In fact, our society 'expects' men and women to be a certain way. It's unfair to both.

Also, it clearly pitches one against the other, instead of one complementing the other. Of course it talks nothing about relationships between two men or between two women. What happens there?

The idea of ‘what women want’ has been turned to a narrative, ever since story-telling existed. So we all believe that women are complicated and need a lot of attention. It goes both ways, because everyone has different needs, and stereotypes are just that-stereotypes, they might be true but it’s not mandatory or necessary.

And this is how the comments went: