Derogatory

Have you ever noticed the unfairness of the sexes when it comes to derogatory statements? Even myself, to my shame, am party to such statements as...

"Don't be such a girl."

"What are you, a woman?"

Since when are women the weaker sex? I know that this is an age-old argument, won over by such revolutions as Title IX and Roe v. Wade, not to mention women's suffrage and the disappearance of the corset, but in some instances I agree with the experts that we just haven't made that much progress.

In a world where women get paid 77 cents to each male dollar earned, how fair have we really made it?

And in a world where we still use pejorative phrases like the ones above, how lessened is that stigma that women are the weaker sex?

Because we're not.

I'd like to see men undergo childbirth. And cramps.

Yeah, yeah, external genitalia might not have been the best evolutionary call, but how many times in a guy's life to his boys actually get injured? If it's not an average of once a month, we win on the pain argument thankyouverymuch.

I'd also like to see men grow up with other little girls.

Because while kids are mean, the biggest critics of little girls (other than themselves) is other little girls. And little boys. Girls are very mean to each other, especially when they're growing up. Exactly one cruel statement made to me by another little girl gave me my nose complex.

And I'm sorry, guys, but where are the 150 thousand magazines telling you how to look, how thin to be, how much you should or shouldn't be putting out, what to wear, etc.?

I would definitely argue that women are not the weaker sex. So would many other people.

"...physiological tests now suggest that women have a greater tolerance for pain, and statistics reveal that women live longer and are more resistant to many diseases." Women's International Center, Women's History In America

Yet somehow, this is being perpetuated on and on through the generations. And why? Why is a question that would have to be answered by people much wiser than I am, but I do know one thing: just like Title IX and all of the advancements in women's rights, change does not happen unless it has a voice. That voice is all of us contributing when someone says, "Don't be such a girl" and telling them to stop or that it's not appropriate. It's all of us not saying those same words and not allowing others to get away with saying them in our presence.

Repetition makes habit, and by repeating ourselves, we will make the men in our lives know better. And maybe they'll spread it around too.

Ciao,
kc

P.S. you should read the Women's History in America article, it's actually really interesting