Saturday, November 22, 2008

What if I Dont Like Women?

This is what I used to say. The truth is, now I love women. As you can surely imagine, there was a time when I was not particularly fond of them. Not only did I not like women, I resented being one. Therefore, I was not surprised by the concert of anti-sentiment from my fellow sisters. I have heard one form or another of this sentiment by women of all ages and walks of life.

Here are some things I often hear:

"I get along with men so much better than women."
"I think I am more masculine than feminine."
"Men say what they mean and mean what they say. Women are just confusing."
"Female relationships take too much energy."
"Women are petty gossips who talk behind your back."
"women are so emotional."
"They are so passive aggressive."

I am fairly certain that either publically or privately, I too have expressed all of these sentiments and frustrations. When I really think about this dynamic, it is a bit frightening. Let's dress it up a bit differently. I cannot even imagine a group of men affirming another brother as he openly declares his disdain for the male populace.

Why are the majority of women in agreement with their general disgust and frustration with females? We usually like individual women, but wrestle with the concept of women as a whole.

I think this epidemic of anti-female sentiment needs some explanation. Why don't women like women? What could possibly cause a large portion of the female population to reject their own gender? Unfortunately, many of us have not been taught an appreciation for who we are as women. Is is surprising that we would distance ourselves from the role if we have never had an understanding of what it is to be a woman?

For years, I have heard many different and mixed messages about women. I am not exactly sure what it means to be one, but I think I am happy to be one. So, I have to sit down to pee...I can handle that... At least I don't have to worry about my sexual daydream becomeing apparent visually.....

1 comment:

Allanna said...

With each of the complaints/comments about women, I can match up men that fit each of those "criteria."

I think that, yes, there are members of either sex that can give the other of their gender a bad reputation (as can happen with any group of people!) ... But I think that we (as a world) do need to work on paying more attention to the similarities that we all have, instead of concentrating on insignificant details of how we differ.

It would be good to work on knowing people as individuals, rather than as races/classes/religions/etc. Then we could say that "While I have a good deal of friends, I just don't seem to connect with [Individual's name] as well. S/he and I never seem to see eye-to-eye over [issue] ... and it strains any relationship we might have." Or something to that effect.

But, like I've said, I know more than a handful of men that could cause me to say the inverse of each of your example statements. :P