response 24 of 100:

Dec 22 07:46 UTC 1997

It really is a dumb convention, isn't it?

response 26 of 100:

Dec 23 04:01 UTC 1997

  Nowadays, making the first move could be called sexual harrassment. I don't
even *look* at women anymore, much less speak to them. I find it very hard.
I just don't need any more rejection.

response 30 of 100:

Dec 27 18:47 UTC 1997

I think the only time I wish I were a guy is when I have to use a public
restroom. Nothing grosses me out more than having to put my tootie on some
toilet that looks like it hasn't been cleaned in 20 years. I always put toilet
paper over it but still. I know some women can squat but I am not one of them. 

response 32 of 100:

Dec 28 03:47 UTC 1997

I used to be able to do that kneeling thing, but I've gotten much stiffer the
past few years, and I can't anymore.

response 34 of 100:

Dec 28 07:51 UTC 1997

<grin>

response 36 of 100:

Dec 28 21:49 UTC 1997

Comment on #33 -- our family made several comfort-station stops on the Ohio 
and Indiana toll roads (Interstate 80) this past week, traveling to and from 
Chicago area.  The stalls had *both* coat hooks and (much lower) purse hooks --
 with polite signs requesting that I use the purse hook to protect myself from
purse snatchers.  The only problem was that my current purse has a *very* long
strap, and the purse sometimes dragged on the floor.

response 38 of 100:

Dec 28 23:01 UTC 1997

I dunno... public toilets can REALLY annoy me. :/

response 40 of 100:

Dec 29 21:10 UTC 1997

I am not all that flexible myself. Cartwheels and backhand springs are near
impossible for me. I can stretch a lot though... in taekwondo one of our
exercises was to sit like a butterfly, with the soles of our feet together.
Then we had to put our hands on our knees and try to push them to the floor.
Most couldn't quite get to the floor, but I did. I can also go beyond my feet
when I sit down and try to touch my toes. 

But I also love the sound of joints popping, with the exception of fingers. Do
not crack your fingers around me, it annoys me to death. But I like it when my
neck, spine, toes, or hip joints pop. Feels good too.

response 42 of 100:

Dec 30 08:44 UTC 1997

I'm sure you're right, Walter, that there are lots of exceptions to the rule.
But I remember that when I used to stretch out with the track team in high
school that even the boys who had been running and stretching for several
years couldn't come close to the girls who were just starting out.  Boy did
they lord it over us, too.

response 44 of 100:

Jan 8 23:44 UTC 1998

For all of its minor 9and ocasionally major) nuisances, I love being a woman.

Partly it's the motherhood thing -- and even the menstrual cycle thing.  I
love the sensation of the changes in my body, subtle or obvious.  I love the
sensations involved in carrying birthing, and nurturing my children.  (The
conceiving part is lots of fun, too, of course.)

I love the way my body looks -- though I enjoy the way men look, too.  I enjoy
dressing up and catching peoples eyes.  (It seems to be innate -- women and
gay men look at women more than at men, too.)  I love the way my body feels
when I wake up and stretch in the morning and the eay it feels when I dance,
too.

I love the fact that I have so many choices.  I can dress to fit almost any
stereotype with relatively simple changes where a man has to make some choices
that are pretty limiting.  (Men, for instance, can wear their hair at any
length, but if they do they pretty much give up the option of the "preppy
look" for work.  They can wear their hair short -- but then they have trouble
carrying off the "rebel" look for weekends. etc.)

I can sit and wait for men to come to me -- or I can approach someone who
appeals to me.

I can, as Valerie said, cook, clean, and swab floors and/or go out and make
a good living.  (Men *can* but often feel constrained to limit themselves.)

I can be flambouyant, emotional, or quiet.  Men *can*, but will take a certain
amount of flack if they choose 'inappropriately'.

I love the fact that no one feels they have to cross the street when they see
e coming -- they just don't see me as threatening.  But if I have to, I can
pull myself up to 20 feet tall and bluster and bellow and demand respect.
(I feel bad for guys who are *so* sweet and still, women fear them just
because of their plumbing.)

I adore clothes, makeup, and perfume.  Because I'm a woman no one thinks
that's too strange.  (Well, OK, some guys do, but they also accept that it's
so.)  If I were a man, I'd have to contend with unwarranted assumptions about
my masculinity if I wanted to wear satin, ruffles, or velvet and perfume --
to say notjiong of makeup.

People are more open with me than they might be if I were a man.  They assume
that I'm the sort of person they can trust with their feelings -- unless I
prove otherwise.

I love sex.  And,as intriging as male sexuality is, I suspect that sex is more
pleasant for women.  Seldom have I felt the driven need that I hear men
describe as the norm for their teenaged years.  There's no pressure to
perform.  Even if I'm not really up to par in the lust department, if I'm
feeling cuddly and affectionate I can fake it -- and as often as not I change
my mind and decide maybe I was interested after all.  And even if I don't
decide I'm horny, sex can be a pleasant exhange anyway.  Guys either are or
aren't interested.

I'm allowed to admire the human body in all its glory.  I can admire women
and men and no one questions my sexuality.  If I were a man, I'd have to be
careful about too openly admiring beautiful male bodies lest I get beat up
and called a fag or just make my male friends very uncomfortable.

One advantage that is really just more of a disadvantage to men than an
advantage to women:  if I were to accidently concieve a child, and my partner
were very much against my having the child, I had the option of disappearing
while pregnant and raising the child by myself.  Or I could abort without
telling my prtner there was ever a child to begion with.  If I were a man,
and my partner conceived, I wouldn't have any guarantee 9other than the trust
between us) that I'd be allowed to have a voice in what happened.  No matter
how much I wanted the child, she could walk away and abort or raise the child
without my knowledge.  She could conceive accidently on purpose and then
pressure me into raising a child I wasn't prepared for.

I don't see any better way to handle that problem -- but I certainly see all
the advantages as being in the womens court.

I guess, though, that what it boils down to this: there are as many advantages
of various sorts to being male as there are to being female.  I like myself
as I am, as what I am happens to be female, so I'm partial to those
advantages.  I bet if I had 40 years of expereince with being male, I'd have
a very different perspective.  :)

(Oh, another of those advanatges that are pretty trivial but I *really* enjoy.
No one has ever expected me to play fotball and hockey.)

response 46 of 100:

Jan 9 13:21 UTC 1998

Thanks Misty, now you have made me jealous of women (wink)
Thanks Val, for mental support by naming a male "pro" (another w)

A good thing about being male is that to a certain extent you are allowed
to stay a little boy and refuse to grow up.
Which also can result in negative things like brawls.