Some of my high school friends might remember this moment; I was injured and unable to wrestle my senior year, so I was looking for things to keep me busy. I had never sung in public, but I have always been a bit of a ham, so I volunteered to do “whatever you need” for the school talent show. Famous last words. I was asked to be the Master of Ceremonies, which worked out well. Then, one of the student leaders of the Thespians asked if I would do something a bit risqué – I would walk out on stage in pink boxers carrying a box of women’s clothing, and as I put them on, I would sing, “How Lovely to be a Woman”, a song from Bye, Bye Birdie (my apologies, but it was 1977 and I didn’t know better). So, yes – the vice president and I have something in common. And, by the way, my parents were mortified.
The truth is that I don’t think it is always lovely to be a woman; in fact, I think that all women have PTSD. Think about the daily messages we are all bombarded with about what it means to be male or female. Think about how insecure so many men are about gender and sexuality, and how they take it out on women. Think about how, too often, a woman’s appearance matters for more than a man’s when being considered for a job. A man gets beat up and abused by five other men; he was outnumbered. A woman? What was she wearing? I know that I have written about this a lot lately, but it keeps coming up in the news and on social media over and over again; and the simple denial of male privilege sets women up to be victimized by a system that favors men. It protects them, pays them more, and expects less of them. And religion is a big part of the problem; thankfully, not all of us buy into these inequities.
It used to be said that Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did on the dancefloor – but she had to do it backwards. Still, in most households, women work outside the home as hard as men do, but they still do the majority of the work inside the home. Women tell me all the time how they feel invisible as they age, while men just keep chugging along. I understand that there are differences between men and women that will probably always exist, but they are, too often, used as reasons to limit and oppress women, rather than lift them up as the glorious people they are. In every way I can think of, women have it tougher than men; and men don’t seem to care. Which is why it continues to plague the human race. We aren’t cavemen anymore, so we shouldn’t behave as if we were.
Prayer – Holy God, You created us all as equals, and You expect us to treat each other that way. Shame on those who don’t. Amen.
Today’s art is “Eden Primavera Spring” by Marcello Lo Giudice.