Beyond Babedom
We're (way) over 40. Deal with it.
Archive for July, 2010
Pay Back is a Son of a Bitch
Thursday, July 29th, 2010
Several years ago I was walking past a construction site and none of the construction workers commented, whistled, cat called or even stared at me or any other women. When was the last time that happened to you?
No, it wasn’t because we were all old hags. And they weren’t blind. It was because it was on Xerox’ training facility campus and they apparently made this choirboy approach mandatory. And I had the weirdest feeling. It was incredibly. . . liberating. (more…)
Tags: cat calls, construction, harassment, intimidation, sexual harassment, Xerox
Posted in men | 5 Comments »
Cry, Cry, Baby
Monday, July 26th, 2010
We all know the routine: guy falls for girl, girl falls for guy, guy cheats on girl, girl falls apart. Except for one thing – it’s really the guys who can’t handle the strain.
Yeah, I know the “hell hath no fury” blah blah blah but it’s just not true. I’ve said it before (see Hell Hath No Fury. . . Give Me a Break!, October 22nd, 2009) and now I have scientific evidence to back me up (as if I needed it). A survey of 1,611 men and women, aged 18-23 in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior confirms what I’ve known all along: tempestuous relationships are a lot harder on men than on women. (more…)
Tags: Hagen Daz, hell hath no fury, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, men 18-23, Relationships, survey, tempestuous, web thinking
Posted in men | 3 Comments »
Pump You Up
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010
In NJ we have the unique distinction (among other things) of being the only state where you can’t pump your own gas. That means, when it’s 100 degrees out (like it’s been here recently) or it’s pouring or there’s a foot of snow on the ground, I don’t have to get out of my car in my nice heels and nice, clean clothes to grab a greasy, dirty pump and possibly drip gas on my feet. So, of course, every couple of years, some idiot starts a campaign to change the law and let us pump gas.
Let us? You mean force us. I don’t want that prerogative nor do most sane people.
Which brings me to the point of this post: how often do we let (or expect) other people to do things for us that we could (or should) do ourselves? (more…)
Tags: dependency, gas, New Jersey, NJ, weakness
Posted in Social Issues | 4 Comments »
Topless in NJ
Friday, July 16th, 2010
With all this hot weather, you know what’s really grossing me out? Of course, I’m talking about men running around without shirts on.
Do they have no shame? I mean, really. Some of them are flabby and shapeless and some of them have breasts as large as mine – but not quite as perky. And, yes, I’ll admit (more…)
Tags: bra, bra straps, breasts, good old days, laws, Respectability, topless
Posted in My Pet Peeves | 5 Comments »
Pretty Woman
Tuesday, July 6th, 2010
Forward Into The Past – October 30, 1964
There was a time I actually didn’t care what I looked like because it didn’t seem to matter. Long, long ago. Maybe we revert back to that as we get really, really old (but, I look at Joan Rivers and doubt that). I began to wonder exactly when “lookism” became an element of my psyche and I can trace it back to my first 7th grade dance.
Now, at KGS we used to have casual dances during lunch in the gym when it rained out, but I’m talking about a real, honest-to-God dance, where some people came with dates and our mothers drove us to the Magnolia Inn afterward for pizza. I recently found an old diary that I wrote in on that night – it’s painful (for me) to read, but it does give me some insight on why I (and probably most girls) started to worry day and night about how we look. (more…)
Tags: 7th grade, boys, dance, Junior HIgh, KGS, lookism, looks, teen angst
Posted in Forward Into the Past, men | 5 Comments »
