I have a head full of words, and have had since the time I began to talk.
And I noticed that girls were "allowed" to want to grow up to be ballerinas, nurses, elementary school teachers, secretaries, cleaning ladies, waitresses, and beauticians. I wanted to grow up to be an astronaut, but I soon found out that I wasn't even allowed to want to grow up to be a pilot. Only MEN are smart enough to use complicated machinery like airplanes. The female brain can't deal with anything more advanced than a hair dryer or a food mixer. That's why there were all those jokes about "women drivers", who didn't know how to fix their cars, or how to read a map, or how to follow directions on the level of "Turn left at the gas station, onto Poplar Road". Women's tiny little feminine brains shouldn't have to deal with anything more complex than what shade of lipstick to buy; if you overtaxed those brains, the woman might go insane from forcing their minds to contemplate anything complicated. All I could aspire to was a low-paying menial job cleaning up other people's messes, or being a servant ("Type this letter for me", "Make my hair curly", "Cook dinner and wash the dishes.") And one sign of that insanity was to ask WHY women could only do certain types of work. Questioning the Way God Made Us was a sign of neurosis.
As I grew up, and discovered that I could learn to do almost anything I was taught, I found out that nothing had changed. I was majoring in Physics in college, hoping to become a scientist who did space science. I wasn't doing well in physics classes. I went to my faculty advisor, who was the chairman of the Physics department, and he said, "Drop out of my class, and change your major to elementary education. Meet a nice young man and get married and have lots of kids." "It's common knowledge that women aren't smart enough to understand science. You're born to please men sexually and have babies. They can't learn anything more advanced; it's like trying to teach a pig to sing." As I walked out of his office, I turned around and sang "Oink", on a perfect F above middle C. He didn't get it.
Being smart, and verbally clever, and wanting to do things ONLY MEN ARE SUPPOSED TO DO, were among the reasons I was physically assaulted "to beat the weirdness out of me, so nobody else catches it from you, WEIRDO!"
I just learned to be very good at a number of things. Whenever they said, "A woman can't possibly do THIS job... " I demonstrated how good at it I was. It often confused everybody - how can you do that? Only men can do that!" The only thing men can do that I can't is piss standing up.(I tried to learn that trick, but all I ever did was get my socks wet.) I can fix machinery, drive a stick shift, mix sound expertly, make puff pastry, sew clothes for myself, and install a telephone. But I still can't manage to piss standing up.
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dancing_serpent
Re: Well ...
Date: 2025-01-06 01:08 am (UTC)And I noticed that girls were "allowed" to want to grow up to be ballerinas, nurses, elementary school teachers, secretaries, cleaning ladies, waitresses, and beauticians. I wanted to grow up to be an astronaut, but I soon found out that I wasn't even allowed to want to grow up to be a pilot. Only MEN are smart enough to use complicated machinery like airplanes. The female brain can't deal with anything more advanced than a hair dryer or a food mixer. That's why there were all those jokes about "women drivers", who didn't know how to fix their cars, or how to read a map, or how to follow directions on the level of "Turn left at the gas station, onto Poplar Road". Women's tiny little feminine brains shouldn't have to deal with anything more complex than what shade of lipstick to buy; if you overtaxed those brains, the woman might go insane from forcing their minds to contemplate anything complicated. All I could aspire to was a low-paying menial job cleaning up other people's messes, or being a servant ("Type this letter for me", "Make my hair curly", "Cook dinner and wash the dishes.") And one sign of that insanity was to ask WHY women could only do certain types of work. Questioning the Way God Made Us was a sign of neurosis.
As I grew up, and discovered that I could learn to do almost anything I was taught, I found out that nothing had changed. I was majoring in Physics in college, hoping to become a scientist who did space science. I wasn't doing well in physics classes. I went to my faculty advisor, who was the chairman of the Physics department, and he said, "Drop out of my class, and change your major to elementary education. Meet a nice young man and get married and have lots of kids." "It's common knowledge that women aren't smart enough to understand science. You're born to please men sexually and have babies. They can't learn anything more advanced; it's like trying to teach a pig to sing." As I walked out of his office, I turned around and sang "Oink", on a perfect F above middle C. He didn't get it.
Being smart, and verbally clever, and wanting to do things ONLY MEN ARE SUPPOSED TO DO, were among the reasons I was physically assaulted "to beat the weirdness out of me, so nobody else catches it from you, WEIRDO!"
I just learned to be very good at a number of things. Whenever they said, "A woman can't possibly do THIS job... " I demonstrated how good at it I was. It often confused everybody - how can you do that? Only men can do that!" The only thing men can do that I can't is piss standing up.(I tried to learn that trick, but all I ever did was get my socks wet.) I can fix machinery, drive a stick shift, mix sound expertly, make puff pastry, sew clothes for myself, and install a telephone. But I still can't manage to piss standing up.