Recently I had a moral disagreement with someone, so I left. Later he told me that I “stomped out in a huff”. That kind of fascinated me. First of all, I would look rather silly, at the age of 51, if I “stomped” anywhere. And here I thought I was leaving out of respect for the other person. I didn’t want to cause a scene in front of 150 people, and I didn’t want there to be tension for either of us. So I took myself out of the equation.
But it did get me thinking about that phrase. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say that a man stomped out in a huff. It even sounds weird. Men might retreat, or leave decisively, or take their exit or deescalate a situation, but they’re never accused of being prone to huffs.
That put me in mind of an article I read recently entitled If Women Wrote Men the Way Men Write Women, by Meg Elison. I highly recommend that you read it. It will really open your eyes to the stereotypes that we all just seem to take for granted. For example, you never hear of men gazing up adoringly at anyone. It just isn’t done.
Here are some more words or phrases that seem to only be applied to “the fairer sex.” (Ugh!)
- Hysterical
- Bitchy
- Irritable
- Brassy
- Flaky
- Airhead
- Hormonal
- Emotional
- Tart
- Shrill
- Catty
- Jail Bait
- Blonde
- Brunette
- Neurotic
- Not Bad for a Girl
- Easy
- Frigid
- Asking for It
- Moody
- Headstrong
- Plus Sized
- Cat Fight
- Gold Digger
- Intense
- Gossipy
- Too Ambitious
- Slutty
- Little
- Irrational
- Touchy
- Prude
- Ball Buster
- Tease
- Sensitive
- Loose
- Diva
- Shrew
- High Strung
- Ditsy
- Nag
- Fishwife
- Bossy
- High Maintenance
- Nasty
- Fretting
- Abrasive
- Breathless
- Whiny
- Pushy
- Mousey
- Bubbly
- Illogical
Make no mistake. We live in a sexist society. This didn’t just happen after Trump was elected. The only difference this election made is that now there is no hiding from this fact. The people have spoken. They are okay with a leader who brags about grabbing pussies, and this has caused the scales to fall from our eyes. So now that we have a clear, unobstructed view of the disease, what are we going to do to cure it?
First of all, every woman out there should memorize the words above and strike them from her vocabulary. It’s bad enough when men use them, but it is inexcusable when we use them against each other. We have to stick together if we want to stay strong. And when anyone uses them, we all need to call that person out. We can’t move forward until this type of talk becomes socially unacceptable.
Go forth and conquer gender speech!
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