Woman cleans the home and bakes for husband's guys night, sparking important discussion on gender roles

Gender roles refer to the societal expectations and norms that define how men and women should behave. Traditionally, men have been expected to be the primary breadwinners and to hold positions of power and authority, while women have been expected to be caregivers and responsible for managing the home. However, as society evolves, there is a growing movement towards gender equality and challenging traditional gender roles. Hence, any conformity towards these conventional gender roles invites a lot of criticism. Marina Villegas (@visitvillegas) shared a video on TikTok that went viral with over 16 million views. In the video, she documented herself meticulously cleaning, cooking, and preparing her home for her husband's upcoming guys' night.

As soon as the online community became aware that the visitors were the husband's male friends, they inundated Villegas' comment section with criticisms for promoting gender stereotypes and traditional domestic duties. The text overlay of the video reads, "Husband called and asked if his friends from work could come over for a movie night." The video captures Villegas cleaning and tidying the house, including scrubbing toilets and taking out the trash. She then moves to the kitchen to bake chocolate chip cookies for her husband, Max and his male friends. In addition to this, she sets up popcorn and beer in the living room and even orders pizzas for the guests, creating an aesthetically pleasing and flawless arrangement.

She wrote in the caption, "I had deep cleaned the house on Sunday so it was basically ready except for a couple of things. I needed to make some snacks...Jurassic Park is one of my favorites." Villegas thought the video would be a fun addition to their page, but it unexpectedly went viral and garnered thousands of negative comments criticizing her for going above and beyond in her act of service. Some comments accused her husband of taking advantage of her efforts and criticized Villegas for doing too much.

TikTok user @shannon.lockwood commented, "This is my nightmare life." Another person, @glamma2112, shared, "What???!!! I hope you made those cookies for yourself lol." Although the couple faced a lot of criticism, some users defended them by stating that the negative comments were merely from trolls who were envious of a wife doing something sweet for her husband. User @_lady_spade_ said, "This is sweet of you! Ignore the haters. A love language is making things for our partners. It's therapeutic for us. Hope you had some for yourself too."

"I'm confused at these comments. I would hope my husband asked before bringing people home & she made food and snacks for the movie, that's normal," user @mamasadie4. The couple released a subsequent video in which they addressed the criticisms they had received about promoting gender stereotypes and sexism. Max Villegas, in a voiceover, addressed the criticism by saying, "Some of y'all have big mouths and I just want to let you know, I do too." The video shows footage of him buying flowers and treats from Trader Joe's to reciprocate the thoughtfulness his wife showed him.

He added, "You guys, it’s okay to have an open line of communication with your wife, and it’s definitely okay to be considerate of your spouse. There’s nothing wrong with doing things for each other and having each other’s back." In the video, Max Villegas can be heard saying in a voiceover that he did not anticipate his wife Marina Villegas to prepare the house for their guests, nor does she expect him to bring her flowers every day, but he does it as a token of his affection for her. The footage then shows Marina looking delighted at the flowers and treats Max brought home.