[Some] women making completely hysterical idiots of themselves seems to span cultures across the globe. Today I read a post that shows the negative effects of the widely held belief in India that women should get married and stay married in the lovely blog The Life and Times of an Indian Homemaker--and then I thought to myself, is it really all that different around the world? [Edit, NOTE: I am not implying or stating that the letter writer in the post is a hysterical idiot. I think this person is in a very unfortunate situation mostly due to cultural confines. The Hysterical idiots is aimed at the women in the below examples who are also in unfortunate situations due to cultural schemas, but these are confines that they have put themselves in].
Take the educated and liberal women of the Western world [when I say West, I generally mean North America and the UK], they’ve gone and decided that one should get married before one turns 30 to avoid being termed a loser who shows up at weddings alone. The wedding industry [which is just as lucrative as it is in India] and the media make tons of money out of these women as they sell completely idiotic messages along the lines of ‘wear the perfect dress…you never know you might meet Mr. Right’ ‘If you dress up yourself in these shoes, dresses, and sunglasses, you too can grab a man before it’s too late’ ‘6 tips to ensnaring that cool dude in the gym’ etc, etc, and so on. Seriously ladies, Mr. Right isn’t going to discover you based on the shoes you’re wearing. And if a dude does notice your shoes and that’s what tips the hat in your favour, then he’s probably really superficial and has the personality of a toad [not the kind that turns into a prince].
Something I find even more foolish is when women, especially neurotic women, try playing the ‘cool’ girlfriend. Remember that friend I wrote about, the one who bent over backwards to please a man and seemed to be caught in an eternal cycle of love and hate and thought I was her personal psychiatrist? [You can read about her <here>]. Well, before she decided to call that particular toad her soul mate, she was going out with another less-than-satisfactory guy who called her like once a month when he went on a three month vacation. When I asked if it bothered her so much, why she didn’t just ask him to call her more often, she replied that she wanted to be the ‘cool’ girlfriend who remained unnerved. I didn’t ask her anything further as her logic completely escaped me.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the last time I heard the ‘cool’ girlfriend logic. One other time, I was sitting with a bunch of women [the horribly blasé girls' night out], most of whom were in their early-mid 20s, discussing relationships. One woman shared that her boyfriend had a boys’ night out once a week [btw, I hate this word. It feels really stupid calling a grown man a ‘boyfriend’]. During this ‘night out,’ he didn’t call her, didn’t pick up her calls, and returned home somewhere around 5 in the morning. Once again, I, like an idiot, asked her why she couldn’t just tell him that his behaviour bothered her, only to receive the same kind of answer. This girl took it one step forward and added that if you act like you don’t care, then the boy will automatically want to be a better boyfriend and change his behaviour. Apparently, the one who doesn’t care the most holds the power in the relationship. Right. Forget sharing your life with someone…just act like you don’t care and you’re ‘cool’ with everything. That’s the perfect ticket to winning the perfect man.
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| As mentioned above--ticket to winning the man of your dreams. If you've never watched The Hills, then you're a far superior human being than I. |
This brings me to my other point: W T EFFFFF is a ‘girls' night out?’
Now I don’t want to trash Sex and the City…in fact, I really like the TV show [the movies sucked and the second one was racist and extremely culturally insensitive]. But a TV show isn’t real life; it’s fantasy. Carrie Bradshaw is a moron who spent a fortune on shoes and clothes while having no savings. See that financial crisis that the US is going through? Blame it on the Carrie Bradshaw mindset. Keep in mind that she gets rescued out of her financial crisis by an all-knowing, extremely rich man who she eventually marries. Samantha probably has syphilis and every kind of herpes imaginable. Miranda is just not likeable. And Charlotte seems naïve enough to be mentally retarded.
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| Girls' Night Out |
Getting together to complain about your boyfriends and drinking cosmos [a vile drink made from little kittens and cough syrup] isn’t going to change your life in any way. From what I’ve seen, a ‘girls' night out’ seems to be more of a ‘revenge’ tactic used on boyfriends like the example above—you can get drunk with your ‘boys’ then I can get drunk without calling you with my ‘girls.’ Whoever cares the least holds the most power in the relationship. Dream relationship I tell you.
The big picture
TV, written media, the wedding industry, retail chains, and pathetically written books which pass for modern day literature have made women into insecure little people pleasing puppets. This is also why I don’t understand it when women of Western cultures look down upon women in Eastern cultures, calling them doormats and pushovers. There are strong women both cultures as there are weak women in both cultures. Both cultures advocate subservience and conformity in women—in different ways.



You have a way of being abrasive... but still being completely right. I am enjoying the blog :)
ReplyDeleteLol, thanks!
ReplyDeletehaha hilarious post!
ReplyDeleteGreat post Kay! Couldn't agree more. - Akanksha (being lazy and posting as Anonymous ;))
ReplyDelete@Fiesty_Blogger--thanks!
ReplyDelete@Akanksha--hey! thanks for commenting!! hope New York is treating you guys well :)
Couldn't agree more with you :)
ReplyDeleteLoved this post Kay....very straightforward and to the point....
ReplyDeleteI am a big fan of SATC series and the movies...I just love them...but can't argue with the points you've made, especially about Carrie...I mean there's one episode where Carrie says to Miranda, I have no place to live and have $40,000 worth of shoes ??? hahaha...
Could not agree more with your big picture point...I too sometimes get borderline irrtated with the insinuation I read on many blogs where the western women are looking down at the eastern women in pity and calling them doormats, with no self respect who cannot stand for themselves...Ha...they obviously never met my mom...or Me !!!
I agree there are weak and strong women in all cultures....Loved the last line especially....you and I think alike...a lottt
@Anonymous--Hey there! Thanks for your comment!
ReplyDelete@Anjali--thanks Anjali! As much as I enjoy the show I don't understand how the show seems to be considered empowerment for women. There are so many young women out there with maxed out credit cards and a closet full of junk instead of a hefty savings account--in the Western world, telling people to spend their money on moderation is looked at as a breech of freedom. One fine day, the bubble is going to burst and they're going to realize that everyone pays their dues [in addition to crazy interests].
I too get very annoyed when I see those posts. I also get annoyed at 'Indian [or Nepali] men expect you to do their laundry, all the housework, and cooking' posts. I'm going to be married to an Indian man and have been living with him for three years--he's always done more than his share of the housework, all his laundry, and all the cooking (when needed). My dad's a Nepali man who does his own laundry and does all the cleaning up in the kitchen in spite of the fact that he's the 'bread winner' in the family. I firmly believe that if you put up with 'my mommy does all of this for me at home so should you' then you have no one but yourself to blame and that people should take responsibility for their decisions instead of trashing an entire culture without really understanding that there are many people in said culture that do not fit these stereotypes.
I love this post. OK, I guess I get an ego boost for never having seen "The Hills," LOL.
ReplyDeleteI feel terrible for the woman who wrote that letter. What's worse is that nearly all the people who responded said she "should just leave," which is not something the poor woman can easily do. She needs help to be able to leave--I know people who have done it, but they saved money for more than a year to do it and they were able to leave because they built a support network. She is also probably worried about how her family will react if she does it and is caught in a "I can't tell anyone about this," stage. She is clearly using "all Middle-class Indian men are ass-wipes," to make herself feel better about her situation and think that it's somehow normal.
I completely agree with you on the wedding industry. I think it's a fetish. Both cultures put too much emphasis on having a perfect wedding and nowhere near enough emphasis on the actual marriage. I mean, it's more important to show off to your friends and neighbors for a day (or three days) than to think about how you will be able to make things work long term.
@Blonde Bahu--hey! Thanks for the comment!! The Hills is like a train wreck--you just can't help looking at it.
ReplyDeleteYup, the letter is terrible--horrible situation for anyone to be in. But this person is also at a huge advantage because she has a post graduate degree and a career, so compared to a lot of other middle class Indian women, she has a much better chance of leaving.
I think the wedding industry has a much worse impact in the West in terms of spending money. A lot of people spend money that they don't have, and they get very defensive when they're told to live within their means. In India, for the most part, people only tend to spend if they actually have the money and a more-than-comfortable savings to boot.
Note to self: stay away from "The Hills." I'm already unable to look away from "Hoarders" (do not watch that show while you are eating/plan to eat in the next four hours).
ReplyDeleteYeah, wedding stuff upsets me to no end. My mom was recently invited to a wedding of some people who have been living together for six years and put off the wedding that whole time in order to save up enough to have to have a fancy wedding. She was like, "seriously, why didn't they just get married years ago? Why do they need to do this?" I guess a lot of the bad behavior in the US has to do with access to credit. Who knows, maybe as the economy goes down the toilet people will temper themselves a bit? Oh, wishful thinking...
Access to credit is definitely a problem--it's kinda like predatory lending. Banks fill up people's heads with the idea that 'freedom' means 'spending as much as you want' and people buy it. I do hope the US economy picks up soon as I would hate to think what would happen if China were to be the most powerful country in the world.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Kay. It really does say something about the west that a series like SATC is seen as empowering for women - I guess it's that whole mindset associating consumption and spending with power and freedom(though I'm a sucker of the tv series too). Agree 100% with that last line!
ReplyDeleteThanks Taswin!
ReplyDelete