"The Broads Must be Crazy"

I'm still laughing. John Stewart's skit comparing and contrasting the fallacies surrounding women's and men's emotion in politics is hilarious. His customary satirical political jibes work well to convey his underlying message. The double standard in society about emotions and sex. Women are emotional and unpredictable; men are just overwhelmed or showing strength when they show their emotions. His example's using Hilary Clinton, contrasted with a few governors then the news reports on each instance are exemplary. Time after time we see reporters defending men's show of emotion and reporters damning women showing emotion. I like how John leaves you wondering, why the hell this double standard exists.

I grew up surrounded by narcissistic men. My father, and in turn, my younger brother. Anytime I did well or commanded too much attention for something I did well, they played the crazy card on me. My brother would throw my fish out the window and point out that my crying and carrying on over a fish was crazy. My father would intentionally lie about my curfew time. He'd lose his temper on me when I arrived home on time for my 10pm curfew, he'd say it was supposed to be 9pm. then chase me up to my room scaring me so bad I pissed myself in the corner. I don't know where they learned it, but these men understood one thing. You can dominate a woman and even control her, by convincing her she's crazy. Most of my life I've believed I'm nuts and dumb. I've even acted crazy and stupid because it was drilled into me as a child. They are right though; convincing a woman that her emotions, thoughts and ideas are crazy DOES control her and keep her in line. It forces her to squelch her identity to try to be normal. 

One of the strongest tools men have over women is the chemical instability inherent in a women's body due to the gift of reproductive organs. Yes women are more prone to mood swings as the hormonal and chemical changes a woman's body goes through every month, are incredible. Some women are affected more than others, but here is where the power trip lies. Men are aware that these changes predispose women to hormonal fluctuations so it is easy to pin any and all negativity within a relationship upon the woman. A healthy woman is even more vulnerable as she is constantly monitoring her mood changes. Feedback from the men she trusts in her life, telling her she is crazy, leads her to believe the same thing. Then begins the feedback loop, maintaining that the woman is crazy so the man maintains control.

What is interesting is that men have mood swings too; though there isn't as strong a case to explain these mood changes away as a regular monthly occurrence. This lack of physical and chemical evidence, strengthens the case that women are the ones with the serious mood swing problems. Maybe the fact that men often have mood swings without any physical or chemical explanation could be used as an argument that men with mood swings are the crazy ones?

Mood swings occur in women and men and men are just as likely to have outbursts of anger or crying as women.  Using a woman's reproductive system as a scapegoat, many, even other women, try to peg women as unstable. This leaves behind a cultural fallacy. When women lose it, it's her hormones and not based in any way on circumstances in her environment whereas, when a man loses it, he's simply reacting logically to circumstances in his environment. On this I call bullshit. It’s time to stop forcing women to accept that they are "unstable". Men and women are equally gifted with the ability to blow their stack. It's called being a human being.