Gender Specs

Gender Stereotypes are a one of those topics that you cover in developmental psychology if you're going to be a teacher and then maybe in sociology or some specified psych class you have to take to meet gen ed requirements but otherwise most people just go with the whole boys are blue girls are pink, we hope they're married or using properly functioning protective measures when they make purple.  There are all sorts of speculations about the effects of gender stereotyping, that's for the world to spend time discussing, I'm going to discuss how gender stereotyping effects boys and girls who live together as roommates who don't make purple.

I moved in with a boy and a girl in August.  I share the bathroom with the boy.  We are actually very good roommates when the issue of boys and girls making purple doesn't get into either of our minds.  We take turns cleaning the bathroom, buying toilet paper and I wash the bath mat once a week with my white towels, good to go - until the boy roommate puts into effect his nine o'clock rule more than twice in a week.  He had lady friends frequently having slumber parties in the fall.  After more than one in a week I kind of started to panic because he was pink in the bathroom and I was green and oddly enough we had bought the same colored tooth brushes on accident so I went and got a new one.  The arrangement was boy roommate pink toothbrush and pink loofa, ME green toothbrush and green loofa.  I also in my bouts of searching for bliss while being broke spent a lot of money on hair products which - call it only child syndrome or OCD or Anal Retentive - I don't like to share these with random girls who I don't know much less have very little respect for without knowing them.

SO I take a moment to have a come to ME with the boy roommate.  Here's how the convo goes down:
ME:"So you may think I'm a little crazy but I don't really care because I just need to know that the 9 o'clocks are made aware that you're pink and I'm green in the bathroom."
BR:"What in the world are you talking about?"
ME:"When your girls use OUR bathroom, do you tell them that you're pink and I'm green?"
BR:"Those girls aren't allowed to use the bathroom when they're here."
ME:"Ok well that's good, it kind of grosses me out to think that there are a bunch of random people using my bathroom, it's where I go to get clean.  AND I know a girl, they're going to use the good stuff, not your head and shoulders."
BR:"You have nothing to worry about, they don't use your stuff."

Fastforward to March: BR has just bought a 4 pack of toothbrushes that are all different colors so that we won't buy the same toothbrush, literally the same one, for the third time.  We now share toothpaste and shaving cream but he doesn't know about that one (shhh!) AND come to find out a freakin' loofa!  I literally pitched a fit like a five year old.  Holy grossness!  What in the world, how did he miss this ME green You pink!  Can you clorox your body? 

I guess you can't really overcome gender stereotypes.