Thanksgiving: the perfect holiday for men?

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Kaeli Reeves

For many men a typical Thanksgiving includes consuming inordinate amounts of food and falling asleep on the couch to an NFL game.

In the meantime, many women slave away in the kitchen over the food only to be greeted by the mess later.

It sounds like Thanksgiving is the perfect holiday for men, while women are happily anticipating the end of the day.

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Is Thanksgiving a man's holiday?
“Thanksgiving is stereotyped as a male holiday because it’s associated with football and lazing around the house and those are stereotypically male activities,” said Joey Linzey, 22, a pre-med student at BYU.

Alex Whitlock, 22, from Boise, Idaho, disagreed.

“[Thanksgiving] is all about football and food — two of men’s favorite things,” he said.

Whitlock outlined a typical Thanksgiving for a man.

“We have the turkey bowl in the morning, come back, take a nap and then have Thanksgiving dinner, take another nap and then watch some NFL or college football,” he said. “It’s a great day for men.”

Rosie Skinner, 30, from Lehi agreed that Thanksgiving activities favor men’s interests.

“It’s a holiday for men because they can sit and watch football all day and eat delicious food, which a lot of the times the wives have to cook,” she said.

Culture determines stereotypes as well.

Elisa Moronta, 19, from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., is from a Dominican household.

“I think it depends on whose house you go to because in my house the men cook the meat and the women cook the side dishes,” she said.

Emilie Talbot, 19, from Camas, Wash., agreed that many of those stereotypes depend on how you were raised.

“My dad helps with Thanksgiving, he’s always helped out,” she said. “I don’t look at it just as my mom cooking. My dad does all the pies.”

Cameron Jarrell, a freshman from Chicago, said his family’s Thanksgiving arrangements work out pretty well.

“My sister grew up with three brothers, so she likes football,” he said.

Something everyone could agree on was that Thanksgiving is a time for families to come together to appreciate each other.

“I look at Thanksgiving as the day we are thankful for what we have and spend time with family,” Talbot said.

But are men beyond all redemption?

“Sometimes I help cook,” Whitlock said. “It’s an anomaly though.”

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