Thursday, May 2, 2013

30 for 30 on the 30th Part 3

If Part 2 was a cheesy romantic-comedy version of what 'manhood' means, then today's is the passive aggressive Facebook status of a girl recently dumped.

Thing I should have: Respect for women as equals and not just as heads attached to boobs.

Thing I should do: Give up my seat.

These two actually sum up the duality of being a white collar redneck fairly well - balancing a very vocal support for women's rights while also being raised to treat a woman like a lady, when that definition is often at conflict with the word 'equal.' 

I know women don't think it's that difficult, but balancing respect and chivalry is a delicate task - especially when women themselves don't always agree on the two.  Women can't agree on which pack out of Ryan Gosling's six they love the most - how can they believe they all have the same definition of chivalry and respect? 

I can't tell you how many times I've gotten a dirty look for opening a door for a woman - or how many times I've gotten a dirty look for not opening a door for a woman. 

Something one woman finds charming can be taken as offensive to another.  Is giving up a seat to a woman considered a courteous act?  Because lord knows I've gotten, 'I can handle standing, thank you very much,' as a response.

So do I have respect for women as equals?  Or course, and I 'give up' the driver's seat to my wife as often as I take the wheel myself - even if I try to still open the door for her. 

But her head still looks great attached to those boobs. 

Maybe I'll just give myself a half-point for this one. 


1 comment:

heidikins said...

I think opening doors and offering a seat to someone who looks tired/older/carrying heavy things/wearing uncomfortable shoes/etc is not necessarily something one should do for women, but for humans. It's the polite thing to do. Ditto opening doors. You open a door for a human if you are able, you hold it for a human if you are able, whether that human has dangly or not-dangly reproductive parts should be completely irrelevant.

Which plays into the "women as equals" thing, equal humans. It's revolutionary. ;)

xox