Girls are loved; boys are respected.
Girls are hugged and spoiled and protected, but not respected. Even when we are grown women - umm, female human adults, people insist on calling us "girls." But love without respect is no love at all.
Boys aren't hugged enough and forced not to cry, but they are told they can rule the world. Even as a boy, they are called "young man." Respect without respect for who that person really is, is no respect at all.
I'm just sayin'.
6 comments:
you know how I feel about the word "woman". (shudder) A woman, in my mind, beats people with wooden spoons and wears her hair in matronly and severe buns on the side of her head. And smells like cheese. Bad cheese.
but I never call a grown boy a man.
they are always boys.
I like to say Ladies and Gentlemen if I ever say anything other than boys and girls.
Now I'm thinking of the circus.
And how the word gentlemen contains the word men.
well said! Don't forget BABE. When I hear that it drives me nuts.
Doesn't it depend on the context, including who's doing the saying? When I refer to my fellow women (is "fellow women" annoying?) as girls, I mean no disrespect. It's a remnant of the way I referred to female friends and classmates when I was an actual girl. I don't do this in a professional context and usually not in a personal one, although occasionally I do say it. Sometimes I might refer to a young woman as a girl, not to condescend, rather to make a point about her youth in a given context.
My mom once, only half-jokingly, referred to a middle-aged man as a "sweet boy," because to her a man so much younger than she was a boy.
On the other hand, a man who condescendingly refers to women as girls, as in "come on girls, you've bought enough shoes today," is another story.
Yes, mamawhelming, absolutely yes. Of course.
Hmmm...about boys, I really wish you would/could read my book, "Secrets About Guys (that shouldn't be secret)." There's lots of insight about the true nature of boys/guys. I know this sounds like a shameless promo, but I don't mean it that way. It's just that, after living with only guys for 29+ years, I've learned stuff I wish I'd known better when I was raising our sons. An underlying theme in the book promotes reconciliation between genders. P.S. If you decide to delete this comment, I understand. :-)
Love it!!
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