A Convo Women Wouldn't Have

Currently, I work in an office that is about 50/50 males and females, but on my floor, I'm the only female right now. As such, I overhear a lot of typically 'male' conversations. Generally, they discuss football or look at attractive women walking by which just makes me roll my eyes in my office.

Today, though, they had a conversation for which women do not have an equivalent. One man discussed how he is much larger than his cousins and brothers and how much fear it instills in them. He noted how at one point, he was bench-pressing so much, his father thought he was taking supplements to be able to achieve such weights. My other male colleague discussed, openly, how he was built smaller than his brother, but thought he was still stronger.

It is a rare woman who discusses pride in her body because of her strength. I believe we are getting closer, but women, generally, hope to be strong without looking larger than she deems appropriate. Too often, this is what society deems appropriate.

Men can happily discuss how proud they are of their accomplishments in the gym while still easily (and happily) admitting that they have different body types. Women, no matter how strong they are, usually feel concerned that they are not meeting the standard of society. Men spend time bragging about their body type, regardless of what it is.

Ladies, try your best, and be proud. You may be the tiniest person ever and you may be the biggest of all your cousins. But, it is up to you to make the best of yourself and not beat yourself up because you aren't what you think is perfect.

I feel strongly that women are discriminated against in many aspects of society, but I also think that women spend time pulling themselves and, in many cases, other women, back due to how we look. (Men hold us back too for that very reason. Some are too concerned about cleavage to worry about their own job.) We need to stop ASAP. It's extremely hard and something I struggle with regularly, but let's try, in this way, to be more like the boys, and accept our bodies as they are.