It is often said that women love to shop while men dislike it. Sounds stereotypical. But then, in a shopping mall, we see excited women taking their time browsing through goods while their male partners follow them around, hoping they’d buy something and get it over with.
Daniel Kruger, an evolutionary psychologist, claims that it is natural for women to love shopping. It’s all in our genes, he says. Before humans learned how to grow crops, they survived as hunters and gatherers. Men were assigned the work of hunting wild animals while women went looking for vegetables, fruits, nuts, etc. Men would go out to look for animals, kill the first animal they would see and bring it home as soon as possible.
Women, on the other hand, would take their time to look through wild plants, select the edible and nutritious ones, discard the rest, and then bring it back home. Kruger’s theory suggests that shopping evokes the ‘gatherer’ instinct in women, and they act accordingly. Men are the hunters, and they do not feel the need to look for the best. They feel the need to grab the best deal and then show it off to others.ย They simply buy the first thing they see and go back home.
What role does our society play in this? Women have been assigned the task of taking care of the family. This requires them to stay at home while the men earn the bread for the family. To get away from the monotony, women go shopping. This is their opportunity to get out of their houses and socialize with others.
Shopping is a domestic duty assigned to women. Women buy clothes, groceries, and household items that a family needs daily. Men purchase the more expensive, rarely purchased items, which is one of the reasons why shopping for women is more time consuming and frequent.ย
Now that women are breaking free from their gender roles, these things are gradually changing. Women do not have enough time to go for shopping even though they have more money now. The online shopping industry is growing and has been a huge help to women who may have succeeded in stepping out of their houses but still are in charge of the domestic purchases.
Going out for shopping can be exhausting, but it can help. People feel more in control of their lives when they shop for life-changing events like having a baby, getting married, buying a new house, etc.
It is said that when people see goods that they want to buy, they visualize a better life, and this can actually reduce stress. Buying new dresses is a foolish thing, but it can make one feel more confident and positive. Window shopping is like sending your brain on a mini vacation. It is a relaxing activity.
So go out there and shop all you want. If you are a woman who doesn’t like shopping or a man that loves to shop, then that’s great too. You didn’t have to fit into a box that’s designed by society.
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