There are many things women can do that men just can’t and the worst thing is, they just can’t acknowledge that we are definitely the superior pole 🙂 But, here are few things that are socially acceptable for heterosexual women to do, but not heterosexual men. Both men and women CAN do most of these things, but the social implications are what often stop men from doing the things on this list. Thanks to Ranker we got this interesting list.
Women Can Openly Own Toys For Pleasure
How many guys do you know that proudly own some toy? For various reasons, some biological and some psychological, women sometimes have more difficulty pleasuring themselves than men do, whereas most men are content with using their hands.
Although women don’t usually flaunt their toys in public, and would be at least a little embarrassed when the said toys make a sudden appearance at an unprepared party, most social circles – and potential romantic partners – are pretty forgiving towards women who own toys for their own personal enjoyment.
Seems like a double-standard, doesn’t it? Yes. It does. And it is one of the worst ones on this list. Because we are lonely.
Women Can Wear Men’s Clothes To Work
First of all, men have something down 🙂 If ANYTHING, they need more space in the bottom half of their wardrobe than women. IT’S BASIC MATH 🙂
Given the horrific impracticalities of women’s fashion it’s easy to understand why women have fought for their rights to wear pants. Maybe they had some hurdles, like the preconception that a woman who wore men’s clothes was a lesbian, but over time it’s become perfectly acceptable for a woman to wear pants, t-shirts, and even practical shoes.
If a man wants to wear clothing specifically designed for a woman he’ll have to also wear the label of “transvestite”. Of course, while much of the Western World is increasingly comfortable with the idea of transvestitism, actually wearing high heels and a corset in public will nevertheless turn heads, and not in a positive way. It’s not that every man actually WANTS to wear women’s clothing, but there’s no denying it-being ABLE to do so could be liberating. I mean, have you ever worn a dress? Then you know how it compares to a pair of pants on a hot summer day, and I’m not the first to say, that THAT’S freedom.
Women Can Openly Experiment With Homosexuality
Of course, many subcultures in the Western World are still hostile to homosexuality in all of its forms, but over the last few decades in particular, society as a whole has become more accepting of the homosexual way of life. Regardless of whether homosexuality is a choice or an innate facet of one’s being, Kinsey was already telling us over 50 years ago that homosexual experimentation is a fairly normal part of the human experience. While there will always be detractors, naysayers and outright intolerant bastards, as a rule a certain degree of homosexual experimentation amongst females is considered socially acceptable, even “completely awesome”, whereas amongst males it is pretty much not.
Many straight women are comfortable admitting to having gone through a “phase”, or at least kissing another woman in a social setting, from intoxicated college reverie to innocent games of Spin The Bottle in their youth. If a woman admits to these things she can still be considered heterosexual by pretty much everyone in the room.
On other side, a man cannot amongst most social circles admit to homosexual experimentation – no matter how fleeting, or even if they decided they did not enjoy the experience – without fear of being permanently labeled “gay” by those around them.
Women Can Dance Together
Dancing is a wonderful and highly personal form of self-expression. It feels good, it’s great exercise and is even considered ultra-masculine in some non-western cultures. Practically everyone dances at some point in their lives, at least when nobody is watching, but dancing in public is something that men are often uncomfortable with, even with a female partner.
If women think men are being ridiculous for not enjoying themselves in a group setting with members of the opposite pole, that’s nothing compared to the discomfort most men feel with dancing around other men. Dancing with other men is not a socially acceptable practice, although nobody bats an eye when women dance together (at least, not disapprovingly). As with many of the items on this list, homophobia is often a factor in this case. But more than that, fear of dancing in general is an expression of social inadequacy and discomfort with one’s body and social standing.
Being ignored by those around you is one thing, but being laughed at is another issue altogether. Add to the mix close proximity to other men in an uninhibited display of self-expression, and you’ve got a powder keg of social anxiety that most men just aren’t comfortable with, even if they are being a little ridiculous about it.
Women Can Call Each Other Attractive
Although women can be competitive amongst their own gender, they are also allowed to be mutually supportive in ways that straight men usually cannot publicly. This is due mostly to, again, the insane amount of homophobia present in our Western culture today. Women are allowed to compliment each other’s looks free from social awkwardness, often to explicit degrees.
Heterosexual men, however, are not generally “allowed” to say that other men look “sexy” in any context. In fact, any compliment regarding a degree of physical attractiveness must usually be qualified out of social insecurity. “I can see why women go for him”, for example, is reasonably acceptable. “Nice haircut” is vague enough to generally be fine. Something like, “Dude, sweet abs” might be allowed in certain contexts, usually in an exercise-centric environment. But, “Oh man, you look totally hot in that tank top!” Not socially acceptable! Not socially acceptable at all!!!
Women Can Wear Makeup
Much like #1 on this list, the fact that men can’t wear makeup isn’t something that many men lose sleep over. Frankly, many men have no desire whatsoever to wear makeup, but their position on make-up might change if wearing it it became socially acceptable. Although makeup can often be worn to make one appear more attractive and feminine, it can also be used to de-emphasize features, cover unsightly blemishes and basically smooth over perceived defects in one’s general appearance.
It would be nice if we all lived in a perfect world in which everyone felt good about how they looked and was accepted based on their inherent worth as opposed to the degree to which they are aesthetically pleasing, but until that happens allowing men to wear makeup is a logical and infinitely more reasonable step. There are certain instances in which it is 100% socially acceptable for males to wear makeup (face painting for sporting events, for example, or when one works as a model or actor), but in general, this is definitely something that women hold and keep over any men with even the slightest facial defects.
Women Can Make Sweeping Denouncements of Men
If a woman says that “all men are bastards”, no one is likely to bat an eye, and they’re even less likely to go to bat for the male species. If, on the other hand, a man says “All women are bitches”, then social norms dictate that he’s being sexist. Frankly, the latter statement is generally considered so inflammatory that those who hear it are often incapable, or at least completely unconcerned with the context in which it was spoken. If a woman says “All men are bastards” because somebody broke her heart, the statement is perfectly reasonable. If a man says “All women are bitches” because a woman broke HIS heart, then he’s being unreasonable. Frankly, this kind of momentary negativity may at times be understandable, at least on an individual level, but it leads to larger social problems.
If everyone accepts that one group of people, whether they be codified by gender, race, religion or what have you, is intrinsically worthy of scorn then it fosters an environment of discomfort, if not outright sxism on either side. But that statement is not to say that hyperbole used for personal expression should be verboten, nor does this statement forgive those who do denounce an entire gender out of genuine ignorance or hatred. It merely means that we have to be careful of what we say, and under what context we take others to task for their words.
For various reasons – many of them arguably valid – it is socially acceptable for females to insult the male gender as a whole, while the opposite is most definitely NOT considered socially acceptable. Whether you think this schism is reasonable or otherwise, it is most definitely more forgiving towards women at this point in our cultural, Western, history.
