So which sex has it worse – males or females? In the beginning, during the period of Adam and Eve, the woman led a subordinate role and, although with less effect, this position seems to have stuck with her to this day.
Back then, the woman took care of all the domestic chores, cared for the children (and the husband), and, yes, she even hunted alongside her husband. She worked from dawn until dusk, to ensure the well-being of her family. Today, the woman is expected to not only take care of the domestic work, her children and her husband; she is expected to also hold down a career of her own. And while we’re on the subject of careers, let us not look past the fact that there are still more men in power than women. Men get paid a much higher salary than women for doing the same job.
Sexual harassment toward women is still a much overlooked behavior in the job force. Are women to think that the only way of climbing the male chauvinist success ladder is by allowing such activities to occur? Men may get harassed, but their harassment rarely depicts a move up in their career.
So who has it worse? Let’s see. If I’m confident, I’m STUCK UP; If I’m strong and independent, I’m a B****; For wanting the best, I’m a GOLD DIGGER, and for wanting and loving a beautiful man, I’m a WHORE, better known as a ‘ho’. Not only are women given derogatory names, we get no respect.
You don’t believe it? Well just turn on the television, read a magazine or watch a movie. Half-naked women grace the advertisements and pages of all media. Why am I constantly seeing women “drop their draws,” but rarely ever seeing a male do the same thing? Yes, I am aware that sex sells, but why does it seem that the target audience is geared especially toward men? Contrary to what some may think, women enjoy seeing men, too.
Perhaps we would like a male version of Hooters, or to see more than the bare chest of a man on the screen. Because women are relentlessly exposed to the content that men demand, we are forced to watch the production of these fabricated, society-created female figures, who, in turn, are subjecting adolescent women to aspire to look just like them. Now I’m asking you who has it worse? Which sex has the higher rate of bulimia, anorexia and obesity? There are young adolescent women having a hard time because they are trying to live up to the message that looking like this fictitious female being is the only way to be. Women are depicted as sex objects in society by the dominant male, who in his mind knows he is inferior, but has to subdue the growth of women by exploiting them, so he can beat his chest as the conqueror. We have been labeled and seduced unconsciously into believing we are less, and second to, men.
Why can’t I walk out in public without a man trying to get my attention by grabbing my behind, honking his horn or by the infamous snake calls (pssssst!!!)? Where is common doggone respect for women?
So who has it worse, the man or the woman? In relationships, if the woman gets pregnant, she is most often left with the child, whether the daddy and she have good rapport or not. Also in a relationship, a woman is supposed to suppress her feelings and pride in order to make the man feel as if he is a man. In particular, black women are supposed to compromise themselves because the black man goes through so much “stuff” in an average day, and they had no strong male figure to aid them in their growth as men. Few seem to understand that the same “stuff” that black men have to deal with, women have to deal with, too, only in a different way. There are a lot of black women out here that grew up with no positive (if any) male figure in their lives. Aren’t the men supposed to show compassion for our sake, as well? Yes, women should undoubtedly never make a man feel less than a man. Indubitably, a man should never dream of making a woman feel any less than just that, a woman.
Men may be stronger, physically, than women, but there’s no doubt in my mind that the emotional, mental and spiritual strength of a woman vastly surpasses that of a man, more than anyone can ever imagine. To be able to put up with the psychological abuse from society day in and day out, hinders some, but makes others stronger. For goodness sakes, a female can’t even dress nice (tasteful, not trashy) without being at risk of rape or name-calling, and being told the incident is at the fault of her own.
Please don’t get me wrong, though, I am not in any way saying that the man, and more importantly, the black man, does not experience many hardships and downfalls. The message I’m trying to get across is that no man will ever come close to knowing the pain and controversy that the woman goes through day in and day out. Likewise, no woman will ever know what the male goes through. My point is, that in my eyes, the being that we all know as the beautiful Nubian female, has much more than men, society, or even other women on her shoulders- she basically carries the world on them.
Women don’t know the absolute power they have over a man. Almost everything a man owns or wants is because of a female. They want the best clothes, cars, and the most money for what? A woman. Once women realize the power in exercising their integrity and not jumping on every man that hops their way with the Jay-Z mentality, then the woman will begin to grow in society, and in the world.