In Praise of Women

I have a daughter, was raised, along with my two brothers by my mum, with assistance from her parents and her brother and sister, so women have always featured strongly in my world. It used to bother me, but then watching my uncle kick all kinds of arse in the parents race was my first school revenge upon the world:)

In any case, I was raised to respect women. That and being a heterosexual, (even though, as my wife told me once, that everyone was relieved that she was with me as they all thought I was gay.) meant I am intensely enamoured with women, not girls. Girls were what I liked as a teenager, girls are what you lust after as a teenager and I have not been one of those for a long time. Oddly enough, I was more comfortable with women when I was younger, than I was with guys, which is something that came with time. I had close male friends, but in terms of that meaningless chatter you do over drinks, then that came in time, but women, once you got past all of the pretty, I have always enjoyed their company.

This is not going to be a list of traits and cliches about women, more an observation.

Why are women in competition with one another? I mean, as a white male, I am comfortable that my particular demographic are firmly in charge of things but women are capable of anything that a man can do, and more. Yet society and media encourages you to sell low, and in the race to the bottom, there seems to be an element of jealousy in that. I mean, men fuck each other over, but it has less of an impact upon men than it does amongst women. Or as Mean Girls puts it, 'women would take over the world if they could stop hating one another'

Why are women selling themselves short? This is obviously a reaction of sorts to the women's media and cultural imagery that I see in the mainstream not to the reality which is, that one of the smartest and bravest political campaigners I have ever had the pleasure of meeting is a woman and that I know female doctors and leaders in the actual world, but media is where we get a sense of our identity and its possibilities and it is that with which I have an issue.

If you believe that the highest aspiration you can have is to be a courtesan for a footballer, then I, as a human being and a man, pity you. Your physical beauty is going to evolve past the current notions as you age and that at some point, you will find your relationships will be defined and shaped by that which is within you. You need to find something for yourself that is not dependent upon anyone else because at some point that is all you will have. It is not about seeking approval, you do not need it.

Other than that, I will find you, on your terms, as reverently as I do now. I wish that you were in charge of things, Charlie Brooker once proposed that for ten years men would get no more responsibility than the tv remote, which would suit me just fine, so if you can make that happen, that would be fantastic, thanks. I could do with the rest.