IN WHICH THIS HOT TOMATO PLUGS INTO GIRLLL POWER.
The ageless actress Betty White said, “Why do people say ‘Grow some balls?’ Balls are weak and sensitive. If you wanna be tough, grow a vagina. Those things can take a pounding.”
Damn straight.
Plus, consider that in much of the world, there’s no rite of passage for men, while we women not only endure a monthly bout of discomfort, but in the vein of “that which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” what can compete with carrying and giving birth to a child? Men have no such sacred, grounding experience.
Indeed, it’s that connection to life that makes us, in general, more emotional and wise than men. Few women would send their children to war — we are not only the heartbeat of humanity, we are the guardians of its very future.
It is telling “manism” has never existed as a movement, simply because it is the default setting of a world ruled unfairly — and far from ideally — by men for thousands of years. And so feminism is a necessary and appropriate movement for equal rights. But we women should never see ourselves as superior to, nor inferior to men, only equal, yet different. Besides, we don’t just live in a world of male and female, both sexes have male and female principles within us. Man-hating feminazis need to grasp this, or they diss their inner male, and court imbalance.
When it comes to feminism, no need to get feminasty about it — there are far bigger fish to fry than condemning other females for invoking their girlie girl. These attacks are awfully petty in the face of actual, important issues of equality that remain. Because the Suffragettes won us the right to vote, and the second feminist wave of the Sixties and Seventies brought us reproductive rights and the ability to choose a role outside of the traditional domestic one. But modern women in the workforce have yet to earn equal pay with men in comparable jobs, and only a tiny fraction of CEOs of Fortune 500 companies are female.
But we’re getting there, and in time, the tables will actually be turned. Because more women than men are graduating college these days, and therefore, enjoying ever increasing freedom and independence. Knowledge is, and always will be, power. Now, that’s hot.
So let’s stop quibbling over the fun stuff that makes life the spicy, romantic adventure it is. When I chair my board meeting, I won’t be wearing an androgynous power suit, but more likely, a power dress, and it may even be lace. And that sexy red mark on my coffee cup? My trusty Chanel Pirate red lipstick. And that smug look on my face? Courtesy of my knowledge I’m not only equal, I’m different. Fabulously so.
And if I’m playing footsie under the table with a hot, hunky suit, so much the better.
