Are Women Better Than Men?
Because I write a lot for men who wear women's clothing, I also interact with a great deal of men who aspire to femininity. There's nothing wrong with that in itself, but occasionally I get the sense, (and occasionally it is spelled out for me very plainly,) that a man thinks that women are actually better than men. Sometimes a man might even be convinced that men are nearly worthless and women are better.
Do I think this is the case? Do I think that women are better than men? No. A thousand times no. I also don't think that men are better than women. I think each gender comes with its own broad set of traits which may be expressed more or less in various individuals and that everyone should be judged on their own merits regardless of gender.
Yes, that was a paragraph of drooling obviousness, but apparently it was necessary drooling obviousness.
When we come across men who think they are better than women, we are automatically filled with deep seated loathing. We call them chauvinistic, narcissistic, awful terrible men. We are shocked and appalled. (Some women are also wildly attractive to these men because their belief that women are inferior to them allows them to behave in ways which make them appear confident and strong.)
When men think they are worse than women, we often don't know quite what to do with that. It's really not an attractive trait for most women, well at least not this one. (I have an exceedingly low tolerance for people who put themselves down, it's a waste of life and time to do so, and too often it is simply a mechanism for avoiding responsibility and stepping up in one's own life. That applies to men and women equally.)
No true good comes from feelings of inequality. At best it might perhaps make one a good yes man or woman, but at worst it makes one a simpering, self pitying mess, unable to actually provide anything of value to others. That's right. If you think you are worthless because you're a man or for any other reason, then you can make yourself worthless to others because you refuse to offer them anything. You don't put yourself out there because you don't think you are worth putting out there.
I never thought I would quote Kanye West except to laugh at the time when he said that nobody would want a book's autograph, but he did once say a very wise thing: Get Use To Getting Used.
The underlying sense of this is that when people are useful, we value them. If they are not useful, if they are too busy curling up and feeling bad about themselves to go do what needs to be done, then they are not useful. The most useful people are the ones who garner the most rewards in life. Those who do not make themselves useful make themselves useless.
Feeling worthless is a self fulfilling prophecy whether you're male, female, or somewhere in between.
