Sometimes being a woman just sucks
At various times and to varying degrees we have to put up with:
- crappy PMT symptoms, back pain and tiredness not to mention the physiological effects which if internalised can range from feeling mildly irritated through to ego-swamping feelings of being insecure, unattractive and genuinely horrid;
- the odd accompanying outward displays of emotion which can include wanting to cry or actually crying for little reason and/or the occasional wig out (which hardly endears one to one's loved ones);*
- having to take medical responsibility to avoid unwanted contraception, even if that has unwanted side-effects;
- all sorts of intrusive medical tests where one's breasts get handled and squashed or one has to deal with cold metal implements while being told to "just relax";
- worrying about the process of and/or the results of above;
- being told that ways to avoid risks of nasty cancers is to abstain from too much sex or alcohol and to have children before the age of 30. Lets face it that sounds to many of us like a crap lifestyle choice. At that age I would have dealt with some young un's mostly through the therapeutic use of gin;
- the whole fertility use by date thing;
- patronising car salesmen;
- patronising car mechanics;
- the risk of getting assaulted when trying to get home late at night because the public transport is not staffed and not well lit, and because taxi drivers just occasionally turn out to be rapists;
- the odd bit of sexual harassment in the workplace; and almost as importantly
- not being able to twist the bloody lid off bottles .
* I hate hate hate to admit this has been me sometimes and I'm embarrassed by it. For reasons related to the damn useful but pesky pill it got really bad a few years ago. I read some of my previous posts and see it in the subtext. Maybe a blog edit is in order.
2 comments:
Yes at times being female does suck, especially the part about the metal implements. I've solved the can't get lid of jars thing. Get a butter knife and push the blade up into the edge of the lid and gently prise til you hear a pop. This is the vacuum seal breaking and the jar is now easily opened. I haven't had to ask ex to open a jar in years. A twist bottle can sometimes be opened with those little pieces of grippy rubber mat that you can get in supermarkets.
Being female is SUCH a hassle. But let us rejoice that men have to put up with the occasional prostate exam - no instruments here, just the doctors finger up their backside. Wouldn't want that for anything!
Oh yes, such joys. I'm one of the (un)fortunate for whom the OCP is a Godsend. The feeling that everything between your navel and knees is being torn apart is something the pill minimises (but not eliminates). A necessity for me, regardless of the the intimacies.
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