If I hear “girl cooties” one more time, I’m gonna smack a bitch…
Eh, screw it – here it comes.
I get having preferences in reading material. If you like m/m, and that’s all you want to read – hey, fine. I’m down with it. But rejecting a ménage story because it’s got “girl cooties” makes my blood boil, especially when the insult comes from a woman – as it always does.
Speaking as a fellow woman, and someone who’s spent a number of years in therapy dealing with self-esteem and body image issues, I’ve had it with people making snarky comments referring to female bodies as something dirty and disgusting.
Isn’t it bad enough that women are bullied and shamed for their appearance practically from birth?
Are you thin enough? Pretty enough? Young enough? Hot enough? With all this pressure, it’s no wonder so many women – myself included - suffer from eating disorders and clinical depression. It’s taken me literally decades to get past this bullshit societal programming that I’m ugly because I don’t look like a fucking Vogue model.
Which is what prompted me last year to finally take the plunge and get my first tattoo – and my second…
Gorgeous artwork, huh? And as these photos make clear, I’m carrying around a few extra pounds. No one would ever mistake me for Kate Moss or Heidi Klum. But I am not ugly. My body is not dirty or disgusting.
To be fair, the “girl cooties” thing was funny the first time I heard it. Fifty times down the road – not so much. It hurts to hear other women not only buying into this ridiculous cycle of self-hatred, but perpetuating it. I don’t plan on crashing anybody’s private conversations, but if this particular epithet gets flung around within earshot – well, prepare to get an earful from me.
I get having preferences in reading material. If you like m/m, and that’s all you want to read – hey, fine. I’m down with it. But rejecting a ménage story because it’s got “girl cooties” makes my blood boil, especially when the insult comes from a woman – as it always does.
Speaking as a fellow woman, and someone who’s spent a number of years in therapy dealing with self-esteem and body image issues, I’ve had it with people making snarky comments referring to female bodies as something dirty and disgusting.
Isn’t it bad enough that women are bullied and shamed for their appearance practically from birth?
Are you thin enough? Pretty enough? Young enough? Hot enough? With all this pressure, it’s no wonder so many women – myself included - suffer from eating disorders and clinical depression. It’s taken me literally decades to get past this bullshit societal programming that I’m ugly because I don’t look like a fucking Vogue model.
Which is what prompted me last year to finally take the plunge and get my first tattoo – and my second…
Gorgeous artwork, huh? And as these photos make clear, I’m carrying around a few extra pounds. No one would ever mistake me for Kate Moss or Heidi Klum. But I am not ugly. My body is not dirty or disgusting.
To be fair, the “girl cooties” thing was funny the first time I heard it. Fifty times down the road – not so much. It hurts to hear other women not only buying into this ridiculous cycle of self-hatred, but perpetuating it. I don’t plan on crashing anybody’s private conversations, but if this particular epithet gets flung around within earshot – well, prepare to get an earful from me.
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message 1:
by
Jennifer
(new)
Jan 28, 2013 07:03PM
As the mother of two teenage girls I applaud your rant, Cat Grant. Well said! Love your artwork BTW!
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Girl cooties?I haven't heard that since the third grade, where it belongs.
C.D. wrote: "Girl cooties?I haven't heard that since the third grade, where it belongs."
You hear it a lot amongst m/m readers. It's always set my teeth on edge.
I don't like to read women. I don't like to *write* women, but I will be the *last* person to insult women in a story. And who knows? Maybe someday I'll go back to writing women. I'm just having too much fun with men. But snarking about it, insulting women and perpetuating that same bullshit is just ridiculous.
