I was walking home with my friend (fellow Rogers Parkian and shuttle buddy) and I was telling him about another friend of mine who I've been having troubles with. He was all, "Bitches be crazy." And I was like, "That's a sexist thing to say, but I know, right?" He was talking about girlfriends he's had in the past and how they'd never tell him what was wrong but instead make him guess, etc. etc. Which is, granted, something that I've heard about - a female stereotype of being passive and unreasonable and never letting things go - but it's something I've experienced almost never, and I told him so. "Amy, you're not like most girls." I wasn't sure if that was a compliment. "It is," he assured me.
That compliment really isn't okay even if it's well intended. And I like my shuttle buddy no less for saying it. It's just that girls, women are people. Are people varied? Do they react differently under pressure and in the face of conflict? Do they talk differently, enjoy various things, and screw up in their own unique ways? Yes. Yes, they do. And that compliment makes out girls and women to be something less than varied. It tries to smash them all into the sentiment of "Women, am I right?" Bitches be crazy - it's a comforting thing to tell yourself when you're frustrated with a specific person, but that's about where its usefulness stops.
If I'm not like most girls it's because I'm not like most people. And if that's true for me, it's true for everybody.
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