It's Hard To Be A Girl
It’s hard to be a girl.
Yes, I get to be feminine – but that pampering isn’t too polite to my wallet.
Yes, I can wear both jeans and dresses without my peers turning heads – but that clothing, for some reason, costs more.
Yes, I am given the gift to be physically able to have kids – but I also have to constantly fear accidently having kids.
While it’s a privilege to get to live this life as a girl, it’s also hard to be a girl.
Today in class, one of my guy friends in a group of guys (where I was the only girl present) said,
“Women are superior.”
While in many ways this is true (my high school English teacher even admitted that he wish he could be a woman because we are far more capable and attractive creatures), the same said group of guys all agreed with me the other day that it is in fact much harder to be a girl, in every possible way.
One of those guys attested to this by going to the extent to say,
“Oh, in every life, if I had the opportunity to be a different gender – I’d be a man, every time.”
So, want to know all of the reasons why I think it’s hard to be a girl?
Here are 8 reasons why I think being a woman comes with its challenges:
1. The Responsibility of Child Bearing
This is the one the aggravates me by far the most.
Yes, I understand that pregnancy and all of its special endeavors are something unique to females that no man will ever be able to experience.
But I’m talking specifically about birth control.
I cannot, for the life of me, understand why it is the woman who has to put her body through miserable, abnormal-to-the-human-body hell by putting irregular hormones into her body to prevent pregnancy.
The popular counter argument here is that the woman is the one who bears the child, and therefore – must take the majority of the responsibility for preventing pregnancy. While I understand this, making babies is ultimately a two-part effort, and you can’t argue with me there.
Girls can gain weight, find unnecessary pimples on their once clear complexation, experience drastic mood swings, fall into depression, and most unfair of all – often have to deal with a lower sex drive as a result of most hormonal birth control.
Girls… your wants and needs are important too.
Male birth control needs to become a thing this decade. I’m so happy that labs have begun testing reversible shots and birth control pills for males. It’s time that that the other half starts taking responsibility for their actions, as well.
2. I Have to Fear the Worst to Feel Safe
On the subject of sex, being a girl is hard because I always need to fear the worst case scenario when I am out and about alone.
I have solo traveled much of the world, but I have had to assume the worst in every man that I have met in order to protect myself from the worst possible outcome.
A good example of this, is a moment that I still remember when I was in Barcelona for New Year’s Eve. A guy, no more than a few years older than me, invited me to a party with his friends.
I’m not much of a party person, so I respectfully declined – but what if I was?
Being a girl, I couldn’t have accepted that invitation with ease without worrying that something could go wrong being the only girl in a group of guys.
I like to give people the benefit of the doubt… but just because I’m a girl, I’m often not able to.
3. We Have More Conventional Expectations
Thankfully, society no longer expects you to be married by the ripe-old-age (she said with sarcasm) of 28.
However, the expectation of having kids and getting married hasn’t really gone away.
If we’re not working towards finding a husband, having two kids, and living happily ever after behind our white picket fences as a housewife that loves to clean and cook…
…trust me when I say that there are still some people in the world that will question why you don’t want that.
It’s much easier for a man to be 40 and unmarried than it is for a woman to be 40 and unmarried.
It’s hard to be a girl because society makes us believe that we have internal clocks ticking inside of us.
P.S. – if you let the world tell you this, and you want kids but haven’t found the person you want to have them with yet… you know that they’ve made this cool thing called egg freezing… right?
4. Beauty Standards & Fashion Trends Never End
High wasted pants, thick eyebrows, weight-gain becoming a trendy thing and super skinny going out of style…
… a guy can slap on his sweatshirt and sneakers anytime, but being a girl means you’re expected to conform to the looks of others – and that you feel more inclined to keep up with those trends just to feel like you, ‘fit in’.
5. Women’s Clothes/Items are More Expensive
If I buy a pair of women’s jeans, they’re somehow going to be double the price of men’s jeans that would come with actual pockets.
6. Periods
This one has never been a big deal to me, but I know that it is for most of my friends who are girls.
Being a girl isn’t hard for me because I bleed incessantly for a few days every month, but because of this next one…
7. Having to Purchase Bras & Pads
This is wrong.
This is so, so wrong.
Why, am I responsible for the purchase of something that I do not have direct control over.
I can’t control that I bleed non-stop like clockwork. I can’t control that the universe decided to put me into a body that grew boobs.
As a girl, I have to spend a part of my monthly income on things that a man doesn’t have to and will never need to.
Men don’t have to spend any of their income on purchases like bras, pads, or tampons…
… so why should I?
8. I’m Expected to Have Different Dining Manners
When I was in New York with my cousin (who is also a girl) trying the infamous Avocado Bar called “Avocaderia” in Brooklyn – I was licking the residue avocado off of my fingers. My cousin immedaitely turned to me and said,
“Oh my gosh, go get a napkin – and don’t ever do that in public ever again.”
Alright, so it’s not the most lady-like to express how much I like my food… but you know what?
I don’t always want to eat a dainty little salad, sometimes I want to order something heavy and messy and I want to be able to lick the excess sauce coming from my sandwich in satisfaction…
… because we all know, that as a boy – I would be able to do that without a problem.
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