Please discuss reasons why you would prefer not to be a woman (this question
is for women and men).  Biological or cultural.  Things like clothing, health,
employment, sports, or whatever.  Are there things you would like to do but
cannot do because you are female?  Could you do these if society changed?

71 responses total.

All in all, I can't think of much that seems like a disadvantage. Though
yeast infections are nasty, and not being able to go shirtless bugs
me sometimes... But mostly I'm happy being a girl.

I seem to remember answering this a couple years ago...
Being the hiking/camping type, I find it grossly unfair that I have to get
half undressed just to pee.

I love everything about being female except the oh-so-popular answer...my
period.  I second the half-undressed to pee thing.  It's a pain even when
you're simply at work or out for the night.

Some of these are cultural.  Women used to be able to pee standing up in their
long dresses without underwear, giving them an advantage over men in public.
In many societies nobody has to wear shirts (pre-Western, that is).
I object to not being able to walk places alone late at night, or go walking
in the woods by myself, but again that is cultural.  In Prague a friend
apologized for not seeing me to the dorm, he would have missed his last bus,
but he knew I would be safe.  They were only afraid of the police there.  And
in nineteenth century English novels women are always walking to or through
lonely places by themselves.

Unless it's the east area of London in the fall of 1888.  ;-)

resp:4  Um..I *Like* being seen to the door.

Girls are "sent" places.  Young, obedient girls.
Then, hopefully, they grow-up and they are no longer
"sent".  It's a right of passage and maturity.

re #4... I also felt safe in Prague. It seems that no one will approach 
you, not even homeless people. I don't think I would have walked alone 
anyplace at night, but that was also due to being in unfamiliar 
territory. 

Disadvantages. Hmmm. It is annoying to pee sitting down, especially in a 
public restroom. 

The peeing thing never bothered me much, but I was still delighted to hear
of this woman who invented a contraption that allows women to pee standing
up.  Check out this month's _Utne Reader_.

I'll second the menstruation thing.  And not feeling safe, although that's
becoming more universal -- several of my male friends report that they
don't walk places alone at night for fear of being beaten up and robbed.

I don't like being leered at or whistled at, either.

Still, all things considered I think I enjoy being a girl.  :)

A contraption that allows women to pee standing up?  I can't imagine
this...  Well, I can, but it involves a cather-like device.  Yowch.

I think I saw this on TV. Not a catheter. Like a big folding 
funnel/reservoir thing. Not sure what they are made of. Is in a wide 
V-shape, you open it up and place it right where the urine is coming 
out. It channels it down like a spout or something.

But that brings up aiming issues, and I would be worried about 
leakage/spilling from the sides. I'll just sit. It's all I've known. :)

What do you do with it after you're done?

A cup also works, if properly placed, but requires undressing.  I cannot
imagine any device that would allow a woman to pee without undressing at least
part way.  You empty the cup after you are done with it.  It can be used
standing.

I remember reading an article about the device-to-let-women-pee-standing-up
when it was first being hyped, and thinking "what's the big deal" -- I always
assumed the real issue was needing to undress, rather than just undoing a
zipper.  

Yeah, the thing I read about was a funnel/spout type thing.  Personally I'm
not interested, but it was an interesting article -- the woman who invented
it has some sort of health problem, rheumatism or something, that makes
sitting on a toilet or squatting painful.  She pointed out that the device
makes it easier for women to pee outside -- camping etc. -- and, if
feeling juvenile, to try to write their names in pee, etc.  This amused
me.  I guess I'm juvenile, but it did.

There would be situations where this would be a good device.
Lots of post-op patients would find something like this
helpful.  But I'd not want to see anything that required
contact installed in public bathrooms.

I wonder if men have an easier time finding clothing to fit than do women,
as there is probably more variability in the shape of women's torsos.
Do short men have trouble finding sleeves to fit?  I know tall women do.
Why do women's clothes come in regular and petite, mens' in reg and tall?

I do have trouble finding sleeves to fit, since I have long arms and a short
torso, and I'm pretty skinny.  But the unusually-proportioned women I know
seem to have a much harder time clothes-shopping than I do.

I read an interesting article about a man who, for years, bought suits
at retailers, and could never find a good fit. When he was finally
inspired to go to a better suit shop, the tailor expressed that it was
no surprise that he was hard to fit -- he was "short waisted." The suit
trousers were cut down to an appropiate size, and for once he had a suit
that fit.

You shouldn't have a problem, as a man, fitting a dress shirt, as you
purchase by neck size, chest size, sleeve length, and regular or sport
fit (i.e., big waist or small waist). Sometimes, you have to special
order, and it would be nice if there were other waist options without
going "custom," but I have no problem buying shirts. Some men have
problems buying suits, as the drop between suit coat and trousers is
typically eight inches -- if you aren't proportioned as expected, you
can have trouble buying "off the rack." There are options where you
buy a suit coat and trousers separately, but they tend to be available
only for less expensive suits. I feel fortunate, being able to buy "off
the rack" with a waist reduction and minor jacket adjustments. But we
have all seen people who look like crap in expensive suits -- they would
benefit from a good tailor, fixing the differences between the usual
body structure and their unusual builds.

There are men's clothes in "short" and "big" -- I don't think women would
go for either label. Although perhaps shopping at a "Big and Tall" shop
carries fewer negative associations than shopping at a "Dress Barn". ;)

Women's shirts do not usually come in more than one sleeve length (two if you
hunt hard), or a choice of neck size.  S-M-L-XL and sometimes petite or tall.
According to Land's End Catalog I take size 4, 12 or 16 depending what you
measure.  A choice of sleeve lengths would help a lot.  What do other women
do when the sleeves are the wrong length?  I just put up with very baggy
shirts rather than sleeves 2-3 inches too short.
Women's 1x-2x-3x seems to correspond to 'big'.  Wider but not longer.  I have
never found an equivalent for thin women (narrower but not shorter).

Another problem with women's clothing is that it tends to be more decorative
and less practical - less durable, more confining, etc.  But I assume that
there are men who wish more clothing was available for men that was more
decorative.  Women do have a larger range of choices in clothing styles as
it is considered cute for women to wear men's styles.  But not vice versa.
And they can also simply wear men's clothing (which is how I get the sleeves
long enough).  Jim has some elastic-waist women's shorts and pants that he
likes, as men's waists are generally baggy on him (42-32-38 or so).

Women's clothing may well be more decorative than long-lasting, but women
have a lot more flexibility in what they can wear to "dress up," and their
clothes tend to be less expensive. I am not sure that the quality of
less expensive women's clothing is any less than the quality of a $99 suit,
but I have yet to see a $99 suit that looks good.

But men generally only need own a small number of suits, while women seem to
need more dresses which can't be sufficiently accessorized as to look
different.  Men can just change shirts and ties, which are cheap.

Why do women need a lot of dresses? Social expectation?

Women don't seem to wear dresses that often, these days.

What are women required to wear to office jobs?  Are they still expected to
wear a different outfit every day of the week (month)?  I think women are
still expected to be more decorative than men, which is a problem for women
who are not interested in being decorative and for men who are.

Some offices have gone to "business casual", which means dress pants, blouses,
skirts, dresses for women (as opposed to a business suit or more tailored
dress) and dress pants, golf shirts, shirt-minus-tie for men (as opposed toa
suit or shirt and tie).  

Women need different dresses for different occassions.  A dress I wear to
work, for example, may be too business-like for a wedding.  Also, it's just
the feeling of variety.  I like to know that I have six or seven nice things
for work, a couple of dresses for weddings or dinner at a nice restaurant,
then there is the infamous "black dress" for cocktail parties, formal
functions (like university dinners), and dinner/dances held at clubs.

Women's clothes are MORE expensive, I think. Totally. Men's stuff also 
seems to be made better and hold up longer. 

Mmmm...I don't know about that.  I've seen some pretty expensive suits.  I
think the reason men's stuff holds up longer is because we seem to wear satin,
silk, rayon, and nylon, whereas men's clothing is cotton/poly blends
(typically).

And men's clothing tends to be thicker fabric in more layers.

Do men's fashions change more slowly and therefore have to hold up longer?
Or are women simply expected to wear any one item less often?

Both, I think.

if i dont like the sleeve length, i just roll 'em up
to my elbow.

I suppose sleeve length would be a problem for someone who is as long of
 limb as I, but I hadn't noticed. Hmmm. I have a broad back and large 
breasts, so by the time a blouse is large enough to fit, sleeve length 
has taken care of itself. ref #27: Mens' suits, even the summer ones,
tend to contain some wool in  the blend. Great for durability.

What drives me nuts is the fact that all the sleeves/hems/etc are way
too long for me. I don't sew, and I find myself being frustrated by the fact
that short-legged short-armed women are always looking like they're int 
their mother's (or father's ) clothes.... since I am rather largebodied,
I can't get away with buying a petite or boy's clothes or any of the other
solutions that others have proposed.

I wish some manufacturer would start selling clothing designed not only for
some particular dimension but for ratios of dimensions - i. e., measure the
waist but specify if you are skinny, 'normal' or fat so that the lengths would
come out right, too.  I always have a choice of too short or too wide.  Is
there any clothing manufacturer that specifically designs for thin people,
like there are for 'big' people?
Tall and Petite only fit people with standard amounts of fat.

Right... it seems like the designers could figure out that different people
are different, and design clothes accordingly.  Petite clothes fit me
sometimes -- I'm short and have a standard amount of fat, I guess -- but I
have short legs and long arms compared to most people my "size".  The
result is pants that are too long, and sleeves that are too short
(actually, I can buy baggy shirts a size or so too big and the sleeves
will fit).  Grr.  I'm definitely going to have to expand my sewing skills.
I've been realizing that practically all my jeans are threadbare right
now, but the idea of shopping for more jeans and spending hours trying to
find something that fits me around the waist *and* hips, isn't too ugly or
too tight, and ideally isn't too long (though I can hem if I have to)
isn't all that appealing.

You might want to try Eddie Bauer. They have jeans in different lengths. 
Petite, regular and tall I think. If they're not in the store  you can 
order them, and I think if you order directly from the store then 
shipping is free (they have a red phone that automatically connects to 
the catalog if what you need is not available in the store). As I recall 
they were not expensive as far as jeans go. Less than $30?

I've also had good results with J. Crew, but I am not sure how they work 
for short-legged people. I have the opposite problem. I'm like all legs.

It takes maybe ten minutes to hem a pair of pants.  You need a pair of
scissors, a needle, and thread.  I can give lessons.  Lengthening sleeves is
more of a problem.

It's not only that, but if you are skinny and very long legged pants 
always tend to be too wide. Any pair of pants hangs like a bag of 
potatoes around my buttocks, as  like to call it.
No, whistling ladies for looking at my butt unfortunately.

I think that whatever disadvantages there may be are most likely 
outweighed by the advantages.  People just spend too much time looking at 
the downside.  :p

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss