A memory that's been bothering me
I know I'm kind of tough and assertive sometimes. I had to learn to be because for a long time I've been the girl who had to take care of herself. When I was in France with a group from college, the guys in our group made a big deal about talking about how the girls should always be safe and take a guy with them when they went out into town or walking around the streets. I thought that was very chivalrous of them. And they made sure, whenever Jamie or Elizabeth, who were beautiful, went somewhere, that one of them was on the job ready to escort them around the unknown city.
Then my friend Jenny and I told the group we wanted to check out the public market. "Cool," they said. "Have fun. Let me know if they have any cool stuff," they said.
The thing is, Jenny and I could handle ourselves. We spoke French, we had a good sense of direction. We even managed to take ourselves on a day trip to Geneva and back. We didn't run into any trouble and we were just fine without a strapping young lad there to keep us safe.
But it would have been nice to have been treated with some consistency and respect. It would have been nice to be acknowledged as women. And that's the worst thing about our cultural trends that value some things that women have to offer but not the things that matter. It makes a lot of invisible women. And that's a really sad attitude to have to deal with.
Then my friend Jenny and I told the group we wanted to check out the public market. "Cool," they said. "Have fun. Let me know if they have any cool stuff," they said.
The thing is, Jenny and I could handle ourselves. We spoke French, we had a good sense of direction. We even managed to take ourselves on a day trip to Geneva and back. We didn't run into any trouble and we were just fine without a strapping young lad there to keep us safe.
But it would have been nice to have been treated with some consistency and respect. It would have been nice to be acknowledged as women. And that's the worst thing about our cultural trends that value some things that women have to offer but not the things that matter. It makes a lot of invisible women. And that's a really sad attitude to have to deal with.