16. Bitch – Meredith Brooks 1997

 

So take me as I am

This may mean

You’ll have to be a stronger man

 

‘You got your period?’ (line delivered by Michael Keaton in the movie Gung Ho.

            Excuse me, but I don’t care how charming Hollywood thinks that Michael Keaton is, this line demonstrates Hollywood’s archaic approach to ‘the fairer sex’ rather than Michael Keaton’s charm or the ‘female condition’.

            My dad is not known for his ability to remain calm when things aren’t going his way. Actually, as a kid I was fully aware of my dad’s short fuse and anger management issues. However, I never once heard the excuse that his bad temper was due to a perfectly natural biological process. Instead, quiet the opposite would happen with my mum citing how stressed and frustrated he was and therefore his behaviour was totally ‘understandable’.

            Okay, now I’m confused. So, it’s ‘understandable’ when a male loses his shit because of all the stress that he’s under, but ‘Oh my God! A woman!’ is expected to keep her shit together at all times and is seen to be over emotional if she does happen to lose it? The female period even gets used as an excuse for why women lose their shit, while we’re expected to tolerate the male shit loosing?

This situation is going to cause me to have a meltdown, but I want to thank the many excellent reporters and opinion piece writers that contributed articles about the different expectations (justifications?) on women and men in tense situations in relation to the 2020 American congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez’s speech in response to  congressman Yoho’s language towards her on the steps of the House of Congress. I’ve included links to two of the most inspirational and thought provoking ones I found, but do yourself a favour and read more of them (The Guardian, The Sydney Morning Herald) (refer to Post 6).

Unfortunately things don’t look to be getting any better – at least not in my family. My kid brother appears to have the same temper issue as our dad. While past history indicates that our mum is predisposed to making excuses for these temper tantrums, the rallying of my brother’s significant other and my young niece behind the excuse making for him is a bit sad to see.

Both my dad and my bro are smart enough to limit their shit loosing to those that they think should tolerate it, but this situation leaves me feeling like they’re only a few steps behind wife bashing status – something that is at an embarrassingly high levels in Australia.

Lucky for me, I found a guy that is the complete opposite of my dad when it comes to losing his temper. During our decades long relationship I think I’ve only seen him get angry or frustrated once, and that was with alcohol and a very annoying associate friend involved. On the other hand, he has witnessed me getting angry and frustrated on a daily (not monthly) basis, but he’s never been stupid enough to blame it on me having my period.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ge53QaDpKQ

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