Intimidation
Why do "men" find "strong women" "intimidating"?
I mean, I live in a world where this is a pretty pervasive thing. Strong women are intimidating to men.
Why?
Intimidation implies a threat. So... When women are strong (which is to say, I guess, stronger than women should be? Or, stronger than a man?), it is assumed that the strength will be turned again men?
If that is true, to what end? Are we, as men, supposed to be believe that women will attack us? Are we really supposed to believe that women see us, all of us, as the primary threat in their lives, and so we must be cautious around the strong ones, lest they turn on us at first opportunity?
That's ... insane.
Let us recognize, in our culture, "men" are probably the biggest threat to women. Not necessarily any individual man, but so many of such variety and in such a huge variety of ways that the behavior of any individual within in given situation cannot be assumed at the outset.
So. We, as men, look at that and say "We are a threat to women. Rather than stop being threatening to them (fixing us), let's just be afraid of them, and do all we can to prevent them from becoming a threat to us, as they surely will."
Fuck that.
Fuck being intimidated by (strong) women.
I am privileged to know rather a lot of women who are "strong" (physically and otherwise). I do not regard them as intimidating. I will freely acknowledge the mayhem they can cause in my life, were they so motivated. But rather than telling them "Hey, don't be strong so _I_ don't have to be afraid", I think the better solution is for me to never give them reason to inflict mayhem upon me.
(there is also the fear that strong women will not "need" men. This implies that the only reason men exist is to be needed by women. This is, of course, also insane, and subject to another days rant).
I mean, I live in a world where this is a pretty pervasive thing. Strong women are intimidating to men.
Why?
Intimidation implies a threat. So... When women are strong (which is to say, I guess, stronger than women should be? Or, stronger than a man?), it is assumed that the strength will be turned again men?
If that is true, to what end? Are we, as men, supposed to be believe that women will attack us? Are we really supposed to believe that women see us, all of us, as the primary threat in their lives, and so we must be cautious around the strong ones, lest they turn on us at first opportunity?
That's ... insane.
Let us recognize, in our culture, "men" are probably the biggest threat to women. Not necessarily any individual man, but so many of such variety and in such a huge variety of ways that the behavior of any individual within in given situation cannot be assumed at the outset.
So. We, as men, look at that and say "We are a threat to women. Rather than stop being threatening to them (fixing us), let's just be afraid of them, and do all we can to prevent them from becoming a threat to us, as they surely will."
Fuck that.
Fuck being intimidated by (strong) women.
I am privileged to know rather a lot of women who are "strong" (physically and otherwise). I do not regard them as intimidating. I will freely acknowledge the mayhem they can cause in my life, were they so motivated. But rather than telling them "Hey, don't be strong so _I_ don't have to be afraid", I think the better solution is for me to never give them reason to inflict mayhem upon me.
(there is also the fear that strong women will not "need" men. This implies that the only reason men exist is to be needed by women. This is, of course, also insane, and subject to another days rant).