I am amazed

I'm amazed at the strength of women.

Growing up I learned to despise my gender. Religion taught me that women are the root of all sin and suffering in the world (Eve), responsible for men's worst impulses, that we're loud and nagging and weak generally too much. I thought of myself as a "guy's girl," proudly had few girlfriends and suppressed anything feminine about myself.

And then and then and then.

Today at the coffee shop I chatted with the two baristas, both Gen Z women, and the discussion meandered to boyfriends and the (straight) male refusal to wear coats.

Give me space, one shouted, only half-joking, meaning from the guy in her life.

I admitted I couldn't co-habitate because I must absolutely have my own space. This led to the price of housing and how it was cheaper to live together even if you didn't want to. Women earn less and take on more emotional and household labor and our so-called liberal paradises are unaffordable and so we are forced into cohabitation just to survive.

Have a great day queen, they called as I left.

Yesterday, a friend confided she'd walked into a music store she'd never been in before. It was empty except for six or seven guys sitting together at the back. She hesitated a moment. Come on in, they said, which made her hesitate another second more.

Seems like kind of a bro fest, she said, and the men were offended. How could she think this?

They don't even sense their own privilege in the world. They attack us and force us to justify and re-explain our concerns and even then they're grudging. 

We're so strong. I'm amazed.