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I think this is a really great post. Except that I don’t think political apathy is gendered. Or at least, I hope not. I know lots of women who care quite a bit about politics and lots of men who don’t at all.

But the rest of it… totally true.

Ditto!

My two cents: part of this is because our society doesn’t appreciate femaleness enough!

I think you pretty much summed up all my reasons of hating being a girl sometimes too. I really wish I knew more about cars…and politics, oy.

I hate that my breasts and you-know-what will never, ever be quite the same because I had a baby. (Totally not my daughter’s fault though!) What’s more, I am totally pissed at other women for NOT warning me!!!

AMEN!

Its funny that some of the things you hate about being a girl are the reasons I love being a girl. ha!

However, I do agree with you on 90% of them…

National Politics at a Glance:
By Kiersten

McCain has a bad temper and is very militaristic. As far as Republicans go, he’s fairly moderate. Because of this, he’ll probably try to choose a very conservative VP to make nice with the Christian right. He has made a lot of enemies in the Senate because, quite frankly, he has cussed a lot of people out. But he might be able to work with Democrats better simply because he is more moderate.

There is talk of him choosing Huckabee for VP, which would be a nightmare. Huckabee is crazy. He wanted to start an AIDS colony, and force everyone infected to live separate from society. He is also a religious bigot. Do we really want someone like that in office when relations with Muslim countries are already so tenuous?

Hillary is a political genius. After losing twelve straight primaries, she finally won three–but didn’t gain any ground on Obama, since the delgates they each won were practically equal. So, even after this, even though she is still technically losing, she started talking about accepting Obama as her VP. WHAT?? Think of it in political terms–everyone has been talking about how she should bow out, then she takes this one ounce of momentum and starts talking like she is clearly going to win it all, and be magnanimous to Obama at the same time. Brilliant! She might win by sheer force of will. She’s also an old Democrat party favorite, which could help her with the Super Delegates (random people who will, in the end, choose the Democratic candidate because the state elections are too divided to give the number of delegates needed to secure the candidacy). However, the problem with Hillary is that she is super divisive. She’s made a career of attacking Republicans (vast right-wing conspiracy, anyone?) and so they will try everything they can to block her from accomplishing anything while in office. In a matchup between her and McCain, the all important independent voters will probably side with McCain, losing it for her.

Hillary’s latest main argument against Obama is that he doesn’t have the experience to deal with a national emergency. But what experience does she have? She has two terms in the Senate to Obama’s one–and serving in the Senate is a far cry from being Commander-in-Chief. Her husband was president, but the only national crises they really dealt with were the ones he created. So, their arguments about experience don’t really amount to much. Yes, she has been playing the politics games for decades more than he has, but I don’t really think that’s a good thing.

Obama is a fantastic public speaker and has been able to mobilize young voters–a group that has been very uninvolved in the past few elections. He speaks mainly about change, his mantra being “Yes, we can!” He tries to provide a message of hope, that he will stop business as usual in Washington and actually do some good in the world. This is probably all talk, but it sounds nice. He might not have enough connections in Washington to be able to get much done. This is the same problem that Carter ran into–he didn’t know how to play the game.

In Obama’s favor (in my opinion) is his very internationally minded policies. The policy of America first at all costs has been costing us quite a bit lately, and I hope that he would be able to change that. Also in Obama’s favor is the fact that, in a matchup with McCain, independents would favor Obama, giving him the edge.

Regardless, the race to the Democratic nomination is going to be long and it’s going to be close. My gut tells me Hillary will win, but I really hope that Obama does. I’m tired of Clintons and Bushes. Whoever wins the Democratic nomination, it will be a very close race to win the office.

Wild card? Ralph Nader has once again decided to screw everything up and run as an independent. For those of you who remember, he is the reason that Kerry lost to good old W. He manages to sap away just enough votes to hurt one side. It’s the same thing that Perot did when George the first was up for re-election against Clinton. He took just enough votes for Clinton to win.

Now you are politically informed. (Granted, I am hardly unbiased, but such is politics.)

I feel exactly the same way about almost every single word you wrote there. I am definitely glad I’m not a boy – but it’s a shock to realise that sometimes, “girly” stereotypes are actually part of my makeup and inescapable. The crying for no good reason thing, especially.

how come you say this better than i could imagine?

Sometimes I hate that I make up a weight (a much, much lighter weight) to put on my drivers license because I am a girl. Thanks for posting such a true but funny but a little sad post.