ABSTRACT
Shiny metallic surfaces and clean, cold, pill-eating androgynous beings were images from one version of the future popular in the twentieth century. Imagining the future has been an important aspect of social life in all cultures as peoples try to make sense of the meaning of their life and think about the world in which their children and grandchildren will live. By looking at history sociologists have found compelling illustrations of the way in which that world changes. Older people in many societies find themselves often living in a world almost unimaginably different from the one they inhabited in their early years. One of the most disorientating changes appears to be in what it means to be feminine or masculine and in how women and men act. Watching men’s hair get longer and women’s shorter, seeing women working in a range of jobs previously reserved for men – these and many other small details and large alterations accumulate and combine to make gender a different set of everyday practices than it was for the generation before. For most grandmothers of today’s young women it was unthinkable to go to town without gloves and a hat.
Those currently grandfathers were not expected to be present at the birth of their children, in fact often they were shooed away. Today fathers change nappies and push prams. Young women dress rather less formally. Presently, boundaries between genders are changing and arguably becoming increasingly blurred. One of the latest instances is the rise of the metrosexual. This is a type of man who differs from more macho versions of masculinity. He is more likely to be thin than muscly; more concerned with face cream than footy. However, much imagining of the future assumes that women and men will not become more alike, but continue to differ. This is also true of many past imaginings of what lies ahead.
