The laundry event and gender roles

This morning, my roommate, J, and I got the television and washing machine working, respectively. While J, remote in hand, happily watched elephants on the television, I groomed and coiffed myself, listening for promising sounds from the washing machine. It's true that I got the machine working, as it is powered on and doing things, but I would be lying if I said I know much else about it. At one point, I sat down on the kitchen floor and stared at the machine, which I will refer to as Candy. Candy is a 60cm x 80cm white box with a band of five rectangular buttons and three dials at the top and a circular door below. Naturally, the buttons and dials are accompanied by small diagrams, one of which says to me If you want to wash your house key, which is only one of many things that has delayed this laundry event. Currently, I am waiting for the drying cycle to complete (Candy does both). Wish me luck!