Monday, May 05, 2008

Definition of "Adult"

I always wondered why throughout my childhood my heroes for the most part were men. Why into my adulthood I tend to prefer the company of men to women. And why my close friends who are women are into far more interesting things than bitching about their boyfriends (or lack off) and how they need to lose that extra 2 lbs. So it was nice to see a far more eloquent person actually explain why "real men" tend to be the ideal for men and women.
So there’s really not a lot of mystery about what everyone agrees a “real” man is. We all know “real” men are:

Mentally, emotionally, and intellectually strong, even if not physically (crippled and elderly men can still be “real” men). Hardworking, honorable, honest, dutiful, protective of family and country. Brave, courageous, rational, reasonable, kindhearted, and respectful. Knowledgeable about how to survive in rough times and how to solve problems. And so on.

She wonders why all those things should not apply to all adults, not just men. This is what Rachel concludes:
You know what I think? I think women have utterly FAILED each other. It has almost nothing to do with men, at all. Men have this shit worked out, they have a code by which they judge each other, and it’s a good code for the most part. There’s no mystery among men about how to behave in order to be taken seriously and have a life you can look back on when you’re old and feel pride.

What do women do? We sit around and we either bitch about men or we bitch about other women. Men don’t do what we want them to do, and other women are competition for all those men we don’t even want because they don’t obey us, so we’re never happy.

What we don’t do, or at least I don’t see it very often and believe me, I’ve looked, is establish our own code for judging others based on qualities that really matter, like men have.
Read the whole thing. Seriously.

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