It's hard being a man. It's even harder being a boy.
I used to think that women and girls had it easy, if you disounted childbirth. From the male perspective - where else? - it always seemed to me that boys were challenged to prove themselves at every turn and in every situation, until they ceased to be a threat to their peers or were no longer a viable proposition to girls. I think I will have to blame my mother and father for this, and move on.
There is an old Sikh warrior in Rudyard Kilpling's 'Kim', who just cannot move on. He constantly harks back to the days when he was young, strong and very handy with the sword he still keeps by his side at all times, occasionally unsheathing it and slicing through ghosts as if they were air.
Given the choice between eternal life and eternal youth, most men would opt for the youth elixir, and women would like both bottles so that their children remain at their cutest forever. This is where the problem lies - well, more of a conundrum really.
I had a very melancholy dream last night about an old girlfriend from forty years ago.
In my dream, she was the same age as when I lived with her, but I was as I am now, so she refused me. It took a while, but she got her own back for the mild disrespect I had unwittingly shown her at the time.
As Bonzo Dog once said, 'If I could do it all over again, I'd do it all over you.' A double-edged compliment?
I like being a girl ..... I always wonder what it must be like to have those dangly bits between your legs but then you must think the same about the ones we have in the front !!!!! ..... Sorry Tom, I have typically brought it down to the lowest level !! XXXX
ReplyDeleteI don't need to wonder what it must be like to have tits - I've had them for a few years now.
DeleteAfter Jacqueline's comment, I'll just say, what a cute lad! Was it you?
ReplyDeleteNo! That boy is advertising Power Ranger suits - if it was me, the photo would be black and white and I would be dressed as Zorro.
DeleteAlong came the Pill and we could disrespect you boys as much we wanted.
ReplyDeleteWe still got as much sex as we wanted though - probably more.
DeleteI agree , I do think men have it tough..especially nowadays where the likes of LOOSE WOMEN spend much of their time man bashing.....
ReplyDeleteHaving said this i am glad to be a man...all this make up, hair stuff, matching clothes, being clean,
If i was a woman, i would be the ugliest , plain, bad haired woman going
Aka THROW MOMMA FROM THE TRAIN
If - like my recently deceased cousin - you were overtly camp as a young man (I don't think you were, btw) then it must have been worse. This man-bashing thing is only a swing in the other direction against the psychological abuse dished out by 'traditional' husbands, magnified by even more unacceptable behaviour by the likes of Rob Titchener, so I suppose we just have to put up with it.
DeleteAlso, let us make our own minds up by posting pictures of yourself, topless, in make up. Thanks.
DeleteA thought-provoking post under the cloak of 'humour here Tom. And what do you mean 'discounting childbirth'?
ReplyDeleteI mean that I used to think that women had it easy, but I would not want to go through childbirth, Weave.
DeleteI have no sisters, but have two younger brothers. I am sure that my own life would have been different if I had not been the oldest child (an only child for a few years) and a girl. Not necessarily easier, just very different.
ReplyDeleteOh, I always thought you were a girl!
DeleteYou are still right, Tom, and have made me smile. I am now an old girl and was always the oldest child in my family.
DeleteOh! 'had I NOT been a girl'. Right. my window of lucidity has been briefly opened.
DeleteWomen have had it pretty rough, and still are in many places. I'm pleased that I was raised to be reasonably 'chivalrous'.
ReplyDeleteYes, I was thinking of modern social situations in the West, post Suffragette. My father was also very appreciative and respectful to women.
DeleteI doubt one sex has more difficulty existing than the other. We can be equally unkind to each other, and all buffeted equally by the world. Kindness and respect always have been in short supply.
ReplyDeleteYes, it seems to be too much to ask just to be humane toward anyone or anything these days.
DeleteThe banter is still the same at football practice. Young boys are always having to prove themselves. My grandson is small in stature like his Mom and Dad and he is always trying to be accepted.
ReplyDeleteThe behaviour of the fathers on the touch-line doesn't help. Swearing at the ref is not sport or competition.
DeleteOh I am talking of English football - British rugby makes allowances for size - so long as you are fast!
DeleteThe world might be full of competition for young males, but groups of little girls can be cruel in a way I rarely see in boys. Nothing on Earth is any meaner than a pack of preteen "mean girls". lol.
ReplyDeleteYes, boys hit each other, but girls are much more subtle. Shocking.
DeleteI love boys. Would swap with them - though not in the way it is done nowadays (so confusing: a woman in our quarter let herself be changed to man - but now she will have a baby - and I was told that is the newest "fashion" - getting a child the way they evidently can because inside they are still women -- or so--- it luckily transcends my imagination...)
ReplyDeleteIt is unfashionable to say that you are perplexed and confused by all the attention that trans-gender issues recieve right now, but - I suppose - it is another case of them swinging hard the other way by being ignored for so long. Even so, I cannot get to grips with it, and think that there is a great deal of political correctness going on.
DeleteMy brother, six years older than me, was the spoilt brat because he was the male who would carry on the family name; he got pocket money, could go out to the cinema on his own, got a bright red car for his 18th birthday because he was the male; I wanted to be a tomboy to get all those privileges as well; but I knew it wouldn't work.
ReplyDeleteGreetings Maria x
My brother, who is about 8 years older than me, conned my parents (and consequently me and my sisters) out of their life savings - in cash. For this reason I do not have too much sympathy with your priveleged childhood...
DeleteWhat woman in her right mind would want children nattering around for all eternity?
ReplyDeleteThe goddess of Motherhood.
Delete