Illustration Friday: YIELD

title: Gatekeeper

In traditional heterosexual romantic scripts, women are expected to be the "gatekeepers" of their sexuality. Men are the initiators, women are the responders. Thus, the burden is on the women to yield, or not yield, to the desires of the man - but there could be a problem with this model in that the women's sexual/romantic needs are not at the forefront and being equally addressed.

Perhaps you enjoy and like the traditional romantic scripts, or perhaps, like me, you reject them or modify them. Nonetheless, I think romance and sex, at its best, involves communication and attention to both partner's desires and needs :) For me, being in the yielding gender role is limiting and confining in that I can't express myself as well (my only options are to yield, or not yield). I like the idea of equality and communication, making sure we both are yielding to each other and enjoying the romance.