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So long as my cooking, cleaning, and people skills are up to par, I will always* be able to find a nice older man willing to provide me with money (or at least a nice place to sleep) in exchange for taking care of his house and family.
*Until college. So long as I force any signs of anger to manifest as tears (which, okay, I do anyway). If I never cut my hair shorter than chin-length, and I make sure not to latch on to someone who needs animal protein in their diet. If I can put up with remarks like "I'm a man, after all." Provided I don't get mixed up with dangerous young men (who aren't giving me money/housing/shoes/etc).
I think I like Sleepy Residents of Birdcage Manor even more now that I've noticed the ways it's both playing and not playing into this trope. The main character's people skills are not up to par, the money is for being an artist's model, and she has a real job (even if we don't get to see it). She does get mixed up with dangerous young men, and then leaves them for her friends and new job with hardly a backwards glance. It's hardly a paragon of enlightened gender roles, but it's a hell of a lot better about them than most shoujo.
*Until college. So long as I force any signs of anger to manifest as tears (which, okay, I do anyway). If I never cut my hair shorter than chin-length, and I make sure not to latch on to someone who needs animal protein in their diet. If I can put up with remarks like "I'm a man, after all." Provided I don't get mixed up with dangerous young men (who aren't giving me money/housing/shoes/etc).
I think I like Sleepy Residents of Birdcage Manor even more now that I've noticed the ways it's both playing and not playing into this trope. The main character's people skills are not up to par, the money is for being an artist's model, and she has a real job (even if we don't get to see it). She does get mixed up with dangerous young men, and then leaves them for her friends and new job with hardly a backwards glance. It's hardly a paragon of enlightened gender roles, but it's a hell of a lot better about them than most shoujo.
