Cuz I'm a W.O.M.A.N.

It's not that I don't love being a girl. I mean the constant expectation to be thin, beautiful, caring, and not to mention the wonderful experience of childbirth and the oh-so-lovely once a month treat are really, really, quite enjoyable. However, I hate being a girl. And it's honestly not for the above reasons.

Now, I'm no ultra crazy feminist. I'm not stupid enough to believe women can do anything and everything a man can do. Sorry, but we're just not as physically strong and sadly often not as emotionally stable. But as cliche as this sounds, sometimes I hate being a women in a man's world. Or rather, I hate being what a man thinks a "women" should be in his world.

I often don't experience problems with the younger male generations. They at least seem to understand that although women may not be as strong as them, they are certainly as smart as them. But on numerous occasions I've found myself being treated as if I'm an idiot by men, oh say ages 50 and up. And I just had one to many (well two) of these experiences tonight at work.

Work, of course, being the place where I run into these sorts of problems seeing as how I don't often hang around men over 50 (other than my Dad). But at work, I've found myself at times being talked down to, treated like an incapable child, or humored (which for some reason angers me the most). Tonight, I had a man in his early 60's respond to a super tiny mistake I made with this condescending mixed with humorous look in his eye that just screamed "Ha! She's a women, what more can I expect!!" And then replied, "Ohh...that's okkkk sweetie.....just whenever you get a chance, how abouttttt?? hmmmm!?" And then I had a group of four elderly men who not only had to check that I got their orders correct, but also had to check whether I got my math correct on their checks, and looked at me strangely every time I interrupted a conversation to politely ask them how their meals were. A women with the audacity to speak on her own! And so loudly and with such a clear voice!!! But no, oh no, she's couldn't ever be clever enough to add correctly now could she?

And believe me, I'm not some paranoid, rainbow flag waving hippie who is trying to look for these sorts of things. I didn't imagine them or the other occurrences that have happened to me throughout my employment. It is just something that angers, sometimes infuriates me, but what can I really do but laugh? Hopefully, one day in a nursing home they'll have a female nurse who just "accidentally" makes a womanly mistake and kills him with (whoops!) to much of an injection. Kidding, that was a joke. I'm not into revenge by death.

Another (more minor) thing that irks me is something that is partly my own fault. In most to all relationships in my life I've always been the more indulging, caring individual who always sees more deeply into the other's problems and always wants to know how everything is that's going on in their life. This comes naturally to me because I've always been more of a listener and always deeply involved in the lives of those I love. However, although maybe selfishly, sometimes I wish it could be the other way around. Sometimes I wish someone would ask me how I am, how I really am. Not that I would be 100% honest because as we all know (or maybe have no idea) how deeply private I am, but it would help. Just maybe.

If I was a newspaper columnist this would obviously be my weekly "Gripes" piece. Sorry to complain, but it does feel good sometimes and they often become my favorite blogs anyway. So all readers must suffer, or hopefully, enjoy! One quick thing before I head off to bed, I've been debating on whether I should post a link to my blog on my facebook page (which I never really use anymore) just to offer more people access. However, it was a big enough step for me to make my blog not private so I just don't know if I'm ready to have some possible semi-strangers insights into my life. What now with the Internet, facebook, UofI directory, and my blog...people could literally know everything about me. Scary. But I'm debating this, and thought I would see what others thought.

Anyway, judging by my inability to blink anymore without my eyes burning, I think it's time for me to head to bed. Oh but of course! Not until after I've done spell-check. Because goodness knows us pretty little women have nothing but bat shit for brains. :)
Goodnight all! (And thank you ALL men in my life for not being like the characters I discussed previously!)

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-Why haven't they sent a women to the moon?.. Because it doesn't need cleaning yet
-Why don't women need watches?.. Because there's a clock on the stove
-What does it mean when your wife serves you breakfast in bed?.. You made her chain to long
-Why did the woman cross the road?.. Forget that! Why is she out of the kitchen!
-What do you call a woman with one black eye? .. A fast learner
-What is the first thing a woman should do after she gets out of an abuse center?.. The dishes if she knows what's good for her