It may seem that I am stating the obvious here, but judging by things I've heard recently a reminder may be in order.
Whether it's Chris Evans saying that women are much better at making beds than men or a woman's voice suddenly rising above the murmur on the bus, saying "well duuuh, all women love shoes", everyone seems to have an opinion on what women are like.
Something I feel sums up society's view of women is the range and positioning of women's magazines in the supermarket. Generally the women's magazines that are placed at the front, at eye level insinuate that women should be interested in: men, fashion, make-up, hair, dieting, weddings, babies, celebrities, keeping house etc. Magazines that deviate from these norms, eg Diva are placed on the top shelf at the back, somewhere on the border between the "Women's" and "Angling" sections.
So, without further ado, here are a few things you may have forgotten about women:
- Women are not made in a factory. We are not variations on the same mold. We are not all the same or even similar either physically or in terms of personality.
- Women have body hair. Obviously we don't all have the same distribution, colour and density, but the overwhelming majority of us do have it. The current fashion for removing it strikes me as at best masochistic and at worst pretty creepy - how much time and money do people spend on this and why is it considered more attractive to look like a pre-pubescent girl?
- Women do not, generally, have naturally glittery eye lids, constantly-wet lips, a permanent blush or "infinite" eyelashes. Why pretend? Do you really need gloss to conceal the "defect" of not having glistening wet lips all the time?
- Women are not all interested in shoes.
- Women are not all interested in men.
- Women do not all want babies.
- Women are not innately better at housework or cooking than men, neither are they necessarily interested in it.
- Women are not all "emotional". We don't all cry over Bambi.
- Women are not ornaments.
- Women don't all want to be treated like a precocious child, who is humoured by being allowed to have the last word and indulged in her opinions about such lofty topics as the off-side rule.
- Women do not all love shopping and want to bury themselves in piles of cosmetics, shoes and handbags bought at someone else's expense.