I Can Do Anything You Can Do Better...

This is sort of a Part Deux to my first blog post (see "Uterus!").

Part of being a "tomboy" for me was never accepting defeat when matched up against a male. One of the things I always had an issue with was the idea that a man might think I was weaker/lesser/dumber, etc. So, I overcompensated for my femininity (which I was afraid males would consider a weakness) constantly. I used to kick boys' asses at sports in gym class by playing uneccesarily roughly (and by that I mean elbowing them in the face, slamming into them, and then laughing at them when they called "foul!"). It was my mission to make it so all the men I encountered knew I could hang with them in anything and everything.

In high school, many of my male friends figured out that the best way to "push my buttons" was to say something derogatory about women's sports (or The Beatles, but that's another issue!). They used to say things like "women's soccer is boring" just because they knew I'd flip out and punch them. I was the girl who punched guys in the stomach and then showed off my own sweet abdominal muscles.

I've gotten over a big part of my near-crazy boy-beating fear of weakness. But, there still is a bit of that leftover. I will always believe that a woman can do anything a man can do (Think the Mia Hamm/Michael Jordan commercial), within reason. I will still do my best to never lose to a man (or anyone really). But, I won't feel inadequate if my best efforts don't always result in a win.

Sometimes I think about how great it is to be a woman. A woman can wear feminine or masculine clothes without anyone even blinking. A woman can be an athlete and a "girly" girl. A woman can be sexy, a woman can be smart, a woman can be a nurturer, a woman can be a hard-ass. A woman can have a little bit of everything she wants. I think men have a more narrow realm of "acceptable" than women do right now, though hopefully that will change.

So, as the 6th-grade me would have said, "Girl Power!"

RYAN'S RECOMMENDATIONS:

Ok, this time I need your recommendations! I'm doing some research on some nicer cameras. I'd like to start adding pictures to my articles and blog that actually look good. The pictures my current cheap camera takes totally suck! Here are some of the ones I've been looking at lately. Let me know what you all think!