Typical gender roles switched (Post 2)

When I think about gender issues in my own life, I personally tend to take on the traditional "male" role.  I tend to lack any showing of emotions, I avoid most problems, I am also extremely focused on my job. 

I can think of one specific instance, while living with my boyfriend.  Typically he would be the one to clean the house, make dinner, and do all the laundry.  These are seen predominately as tasks that women complete.  In my case, I do not know how to cook almost anything, and I don't really have the time or the motivation to learn.  He will try to cook new dishes and even watches shows on the Food Network.  One time I had to run to the store to pick up essentials and bought a laundry soap that he didn't like and we got into an argument about it, I took the soap back to exchange it just to end the argument. 

Another example of a gender switch in my life, is the fact that I work anywhere between forty and sixty hours a week, I was responsible for a large portion of the bills of the house and made sure that they were all paid on time.  My boyfriend only works part time about twenty hours a week.  Typically men work more and women stay home. 

There are many other things that I can think of in which I play the role of the man.  And I'm sure everyone else has had at least one time when they were involved with a switch of the typical gender rules.

From this reflection, I wonder how this shift in the way my boyfriend and I act affects him.  I feel empowered and independent knowing that I can support myself.  We have talked about it before, and he says he doesn't mind cooking and cleaning because he's better at it then I am, but I wonder if it has any affect on how masculine he feels.  

It also makes me think about the idea of power.  In a typical sense he would not be seen as powerful since he would be doing the woman's work.  But Foucault's definition of power will work better to explain this situation.  My boyfriend may play different roles when he is around different people or in a different setting, but in our relationship he is the one that cooks and cleans.  Foucault's definition of power from the book "Media, Gender and Identity" is that "power is exercised within interactions.  Power flows through relationships or networks of relationships (p. 128)." In our relationship it is important for him to cook and clean just like it is important for me to work.  If I couldn't work the power in the relationship would shift and maybe he would work and I would have to clean.  He also may be super masculine and fill in the typical male role in other relationships in his life.