It Must Really Suck To Be A Woman Sometimes

Two incidents that recently happened to some female friends of mind really gave me pause to think about how sometimes it must really suck to be a woman. No, I am not going to compose some scholarly treatise about gender in society -- as you might guess from this post's title. However, I am reminded that sometimes males just don't have to put up with shit just because we are guys ... and it sure is not right or fair.

Example 1: Very Josie recently wrote about her success in a deepstack tournament at Foxwoods. Now if you have ever played against Josie before, you know that she plays a very aggressive game. Very. She is also a  very good tournament player, which I am sure pissed off some guys she outclassed at the Foxwoods tournament. However, her account of the angles that were shot, the verbal abuse she took, and the general douchebaggery that was directed toward her were waaaaay over the top. That kind of crap would not go on if her name was Joe C, not Josie. Guys might try a little of that against another male, but in general most guys know not to push things too far or face consequences. Unfortunately, size sometimes does matter. If you are a regular size guy or on the big side, your mere physical stature tells other males "beware: you might not want want to fuck with this guy too much." But take a woman like Josie who hovers at just over five feet tall -- bam, it is like open season to take a shot. And another. And unfortunately, it appeares that Foxwoods did a shitty job of keeping the game decent for all players.

Example 2: Angela, a good friend of mine at work, has a heart of gold. Yet, even though she can be loud and is not petite, the fact that she is a woman somehow gave a classless lady the idea that it was okay to take out her frustrations on Angela and physically abuse her. I work in a professional office in a community college, which is usually a very friendly and genteel place. However, this mad woman got upset that Angela was standing where the woman wanted to walk, and she shoved her baby carriage into Angela! So imagine -- a woman with a small baby in the carrier, thinks "screw my kid, I'll ram my carrier into this woman because I am pissed off and she is in my way." I guarantee that this would never happen to a guy.

I sometimes hear about nasty people giving a hard time to the administrative assistants and student workers who are stationed at my department's front desk. Yes, the people who work at the desk tend to be female, so I guess some people, both male and female, think it is okay to blow them shit when they don't get what they want. A couple of years ago, we had a student named Andre working the desk. Andre was very tall and just looked like a guy one would not want to mess with. And virtually no one ever did.

My oldest daughter is an avowed feminist who sees her moderately conservative father as traveling somewhat down the road of misogyny. Of course, like most 19-year olds, she knows all with having only a modicum of life experiences. Please don't show her this post. I have already upset her world by telling her that I switched political parties and am now a Democrat. She just might actually find that life is not always what it appears to be when seen through a different prism.