Being a Woman Can Be Inconvenient But I Guess That's Fine

A couple weeks ago I wrote a discussion question asking if anyone ever wanted to be a different gender. For me that answer is yes, but fleetingly. I usually wish to not be a woman for a few moments and then realize how weird that would be and settle back comfortably in my gender. This short wish is fairly frequent though and many things set it off.

Things that make me not want to be a woman:

• Being mansplained to
• Not being taken seriously
• When my mother panics and gives me a long lecture on protecting myself when I go out
• Trying to buy things from a salesman
• Alone somewhere with a man who gives me the heebie jeebies
• Strangers yelling at me to smile
• Strangers touching me inappropriately
• Creepy old men flirting with me at work
• Getting scolded for "unladylike" behavior that no one is scolding my brother for
• Being told that I'm not allowed to participate in things because of my gender
• Cute sweaters in the men's department
• Wanting to go to my local comic book store
• Days where I wake up and my gender feels all itchy so I put on my most masculine plaid and get unreasonably upset that the only boots I own are pink and that my hair is so long and that all my sweaters are clearly women's sweaters

But (except for itchy gender days) the idea of not being a woman is so completely bizarre. Sometimes I get worried about whether my gender is really my gender or if I've just been socialized into it, but for the most part I don't care where my gender comes from. The way I wear my gender fits perfectly and it would be uncomfortable for me to take it off.