"I don't think that being a strong person is about ignoring your emotions and fighting your feelings. Putting on a brave face doesn't mean you're a brave person. That's why everybody in my life knows everything that I'm going through. I can't hide anything from them. People need to realise that being open isn't the same as being weak."

- Taylor Swift

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Suck it up, Ladies.

As much as I believe that men these days are more chauvinistic than chivalrous, I still think some ladies seriously have to suck it up, princess - just a little.

We're not going to achieve gender equality if women constantly expect men to be doormats to their every whim under the pretense of 'feminism' or whatever. I mean, seriously, the way I get treated by some men, and the horrific way women across the globe are treated by some men, even equality seems like too much to ask, let alone a complete dash of the status quo.

Women have to learn to hold their own, and not expect men to give up big chances and opportunities just to give you a bit more padding. Sure, walking curbside and opening doors and offering to carry heavy goods isn't really gonna hurt nobody, but in a competition situation gender is not an excuse for dibs.

A week or so ago on Masterchef Hayden Quinn was picked on by the press for being a little snappy at about-to-be-eliminated contestant Sun Etheridge, who in the heat of the competition didn't organize her time properly and ended up being the fourth person vying for a three-person fryer. Sun later, rather understandably, described his reaction as 'suck it up, princess', but rather unreasonably some have jumped to her defence, saying that momma's-boy Hayden should have been more courteous. What was he supposed to do, lose the competition so that the weakest link won? If the genders had been switched nobody would dare jump to Sun's aide.

I do think some people are taking this a little too far, picking on contestants on reality TV shows who cry. I know this looks bad on television, especially in a competitive setting, but seriously, crying is a natural reaction to stress and we gotta be a bit more understanding. We can't automatically assume that it's all an act, or that it's all a female act - I mean, c'mon. Hayden was crying last night.

It's sad in this day and age that we expect so much and do so little for the opposite sex. I know I'm not really practicing what I preach, but the world could do with less cynicism and more kindness.

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