Society has an unhealthy and rather disgusting obsession with offending one another, either in jest or anger. Most of the phrases coined for this purpose diminish the integrity of our gender, sexuality and identity. The real victims of these offenses aren’t those being subjected to the insult, rather the demographic the insult refers to.
Growing up, boys are subjected to the ‘negative’ comparison to a girl with phrases like: you hit like a girl, you run like a girl, you cry like a girl. Due to the dominance of masculinity and patriarchy since the beginning of mankind (There it is again, mankind. Not womenkind, but mankind.), men are portrayed as the superior gender. Even as adults, men continue to insult each other with the phrase: don’t be such a pussy or simply, pussy. However, as previously explained above, the real victims of these constant jabs are women. Unfortunately, they instead hear women are inferior to and weaker than men. No demographic should ever be subjected to such blatant inequality.
If I may point out, the female anatomy is designed to push a living being out of a woman’s body. Meanwhile, men fall to the ground with even a flick of their anatomy. In terms of strength based solely on pain tolerance, I think it’s clear which is stronger. With that said, if I were ever subject to insult (which I am constantly), I would rather be called a pussy than a dick.
Unfortunately, there are many more derogatory phrases and insults jabbed around in our society. Sometimes the greatest insult is one of ignorance.
