Why are girls so bitchy?

It's a sexist question that's bound to have a sexist answer, but one I've heard asked a lot. I know there's a better article about this somewhere, but here's the answer I gave on answers.com. I aimed to be as brief and plainspoken as possible, but the bot still flagged my answer as inflammatory and biased. Cue tongue in cheek swearing: WTF?!

I don't believe this is chiefly a female problem. Men and women have been known to get irate with each other once in a while. However, I do have a theory for why women *sometimes feel they are entitled to act disrespectfully and impolitely.*

Society has historically oppressed women; from a young age they are typically told that their looks are their greatest assets and they aren't given much confidence about their earning potential. This plays out in the adult world; women make less than men in almost every profession. What often consoles men and women and hides this inequality is the fact that our culture imposes a code of conduct on men requiring them to act gracefully and chivalrously with women. For example, men are supposed to open the doors for women, let the lady go first in line, etc.

I think over the years being tolerant of a woman's cranky moods got rolled into the chivalry act. Hollywood movies and the like depicted chivalrous men falling for impolite girls by finding their tantrums cute, smart and attractive. Take, for an example My Fair Lady or any other romantic comedy. Women started to figure that it's okay, maybe even cute for them to be impolite. But in truth, acting like a bitch and thinking its acceptable to do so further reproduces the inequality between men and women because cranky behavior gets typified as "woman behavior."

So lets just be courteous to everyone regardless of gender, yeah? And stop oppressing us, damn it!

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_mostly_female_like_to_show_anger_and_angry_at_the_male_without_a_polite_and_respect#ixzz1QWlB4RtC

Lone female travelers

I'll be traveling through Los Angeles for four days next week by myself. I originally thought I could couch surf but I think I need to be more active in the local community for couchsurfing hosts to accept my requests. Right now I just kind of look like a crazy, selfish person with no friends who wants free accommodation. Couchsurfing is a safe community because most of the members have been vouched for by other members, so I feel little apprehension about asking to stay at a man's house. However, I just had a surf request denied by an experienced host. Though he was likely put off by my newness to the site and the fact that no one has vouched for me on my profile, my knee-jerk interpretation was that he was hinting a lone female traveler probably shouldn't request to stay in an unknown man's home.

Traveling by myself doesn't strike me as scary because I often travel alone (in fact, whenever I've traveled I've been alone). I love being independent and I firmly believe women can do anything if they don't let others stop them. Being afraid of being on our own is a product of oppression, I think. We have to fight that fear. We have to not let others instill self-doubt or stop us from realizing our independence.

But people have tried.

My mother reduced me to tears last year when I told her I wanted to spend a weekend in New York City by myself. "You haven't proven to me that you're ready to do this," she said, among other baseless assaults on my intelligence and maturity that I have never under any other context heard her say. After I pulled myself together I realized that she was only saying that to keep me safe; the thought of me traveling alone scares her a great deal more than it scares me.

I think my independence might be considered foolhardy by others, but there is no better way to gain independence and self confidence than by letting ourselves be open and vulnerable to others (...who have been vouched for). My request was probably denied because I have yet to prove to people in my own community that I am worthy of others' hospitality. But as I travel I'll wonder if others are doubting me because I am young, female and on my own.

If you are a female traveler, please share your thoughts!

Women in the Middle East revolutions

Check out this fantastic time-lapse video of artist Jessica Sabogal's tribute to the revolution in Egypt.


I dont' consider myself an art critic, but I am a Journalism and Global Studies double major. This means that I have a bag of tools for critical analysis that I probably will never be able to use profitably...so to show my degree was worth the cash I have to dump any related epiphanies on my blog :)
But seriously, I thought a couple things about the painting were significant and helped me think of the whole "revolution" differently.

1. The subject is a woman, and that too a *de-glamorized* one.

2. Women have traditionally been invisible, marginal voices in revolutions (focus is usually on male violence), but in the revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, women are figuring very significantly. The subject of the painting here is probably not meant to be seen as an onlooker or the subject of regime change. Though she *is* depicted in the act of reacting, the artist chose to focus on women as agents of change.

This is a long but very insightful Al Jazeera interview on the role of Arab women in the recent democratic revolutions. My professor sent it to me so I think you will find it well worth your time.


3. The style is graffiti-inspired. Seems like a pretty direct interpretation of Egypt's revolution as a bottom-up movement.

4. The painting isn't necessarily triumphant. In theAl Jazeera interview above there is a discussion about how Arab women don't share a homogeneous view on the priorities for or purpose of democratic change.The painting depicts shock, which can be either good or bad. Political revolutions are, above all, shocking and always inspire counter revolutions. I like this painting because it isn't just a snapshot in time...it signifies the whole process--both the revolution and the counter revolution.