A few days ago, I posted this status on my Facebook page and promised to expound on it at a later date. Today is that date.
“I hope that in the effort for some men to ‘man up,’ they don’t expect us to ‘woman down.’”
Maybe I’ve been hanging out with the wrong people but something has been disturbing me for some time.
I get the feeling that some men (not all men, thank God) feel that women need to take a step back from all this “education and career chasing” stuff. They feel that we can be ambitious but not “too ambitious” and this ambition should be confined solely to the home. Although, this “ambition” we can be ambiguously defined as some dudes think that having a college degree and/or steady job is too ambitious. Some folks would just call it handling your business and being responsible.
I feel there is a twinge of resentment in these words that mask an inferiority complex and lack of ambition (in my humble opinion) of the part of some guys who think that order for them to feel good about themselves, women need to opt for a financial and educational back seat. My reply to that?
Uh, NO!
I could sit here and write a whole book on this issue but it’s late and I need to get to bed. The simple fact is this: A real man knows his own worth. His self-worth doesn’t rely on other people’s opinions or success. He is in competition with himself alone. He strives to be a better man than he was the day before. And a real man certainly would ask never ask a woman to downgrade her life, education, or career just because he carries the XY chromosome.
Ugh! I gotta avoid certain social forums and people!