I Enjoy Being a Girl

"I, with a deeper instinct, choose a man who compels my strength, who makes enormous demands on me, who does not doubt my courage or my toughness, who does not believe me naive or innocent, who has the courage to treat me like a woman." Anaïs Nin

She spun a compelling "oh, woe is me" kind of tale. Her husband, it seems, was not meeting her emotional needs. Preoccupied with work, he didn't have the time or inclination to talk incessantly about her feelings and thoughts. I was a little surprised, because from what she has said in the past, he seemed to be a good guy and pretty attentive. Their marital problems are none of my business, but where my ears perked up was when she began to make sweeping generalizations about women. How we live in an emotional world that men can't understand. That we need continual reassurance that we are loved and beautiful. That men are rational and we are not (!)

It is disingenuous to use being a woman as an excuse for laziness, immaturity and a lack of empathy. It is also offensive to us other women who are fully functioning adults to purport that "we" are all like this. Of course, I know that men and woman are different, not just physically. But it gets us no where to perpetuate the tired, worn-out stereotypes.

I love being a woman. Today we have the best of both worlds. We can do anything men can do, but we can also enjoy our femininity. We should embrace it and enjoy it, but never use it as an excuse. Our emotions and feelings should enrich our lives and the lives of those around us, not be used as weapons to make the people who love us feel inadequate. Being sensitive to how others might be feeling, being understanding of the pressures they face, now that would truly be a rich emotional life.

Susan