Search Results: how do you tell a girl to lose weight

This question was actually posed by one of my 7th graders while reading an article about societal changes.

It talked about male and female standards and how they've changed since the 1930's from WWII, the Cold War, and the 80's so that women can do more things to provide for themselves that were typically only for men. It didn't mention anything else on the subject and was literally two paragraphs from a two page article, but I had a girl ask if that's the reason why some guys don't put any effort into relationships anymore.

I asked why she thought that and she said that boys don't seem too interested in doing any work in relationships anymore. She has two older sisters and an older brother. Her sisters pay for themselves on dates and approached their boyfriends. One of the guys is not employed and lives with her sister (I think one sister is 23 and the other is 17). And her brother never takes his girlfriend on dates. She comes over to their house (brother is 19). But she hears her brother talk about how his girlfriend should lose weight or put more effort into her appearance before he moves on.

After she made this statement, most of the other kids (including males) in the class said they noticed similar things with their siblings, cousins, uncles/aunts, and even parents. The boyfriend/husband may work but they don't do anything else. They come home, eat, and sleep. But they said they noticed the girlfriend/wife in the relationship works, cooks, cleans, gets them ready for school, manages the bills, etc. and still puts time, effort, and money into their appearance.

I told them it varies by circumstance.

Not all the kids in the class are originally from this area. Some are from other states and cities but they're all Caucasian (if that matters to anyone). One just got here last week.

So... what do you think? Is the fight for gender equality allowing men to become lazier? And why?