I know what strong women are, Anon. I was raised by them. My grandmother grew up in Nazi Poland, watched nearly every adult male member of her family be gunned down or shot, immigrated to the States, married at 19, and raised 3 daughters in a working-class environment, and still did it with dignity, faith, security and resilient, indomitable love. My mother worked her way to TWO PhDs in STEM fields in the 70s. Oh yeah, she also did it while fighting cancer, and winning.
I know what strong women are, Anon. I’d want no one else in my life. Strong women don’t mew about manspreading, air-conditioning, or demand that men #giveyourmoneytowomen. Most of all, strong women, like any strong, compassionate human being, have the milk of human kindness in their hearts, they value the lives of men, their challenges, their future. They love men, and don’t find it a burden or taking anything away from protecting THEIR OWN rights to fight for them. Most of all, Strong women are not those who sit terrified of clapping, a man greeting them, or even catcalling, and they do NOT have to put anyone else down to make themselves feel stronger, or appear better.
No, anon, I don’t fear strong women. I value them. The ones I despise are these pusillanimous hypocrites who demand respect but show nothing worth respecting, and give no respect to others. Most of today’s feminist mouthpieces are NOT strong women. In fact I don’t think they’ve progressed beyond childhood.
-Jarl
*claps*
I… Do not agree with this at all. And it was kind of confusing to read through what is clearly a well articulated opinion and have it sit so negatively with me, and then read through the comments and find nothing but support for something that feels incredibly toxic.
After thinking over this for a little while I think I can properly explain why this bothers me so much. First of all starting with the strong female relatives, I really feel this is just a revision on the classic, “as a father harming women is bad,” argument that tumblr hates so much. “I had a strong mother and grandmother once so I know all about women and their struggles.” Im glad you had positive female role models in your life. That’s very important, but I don’t think it gives you the prowess to explain to everyone what exactly constitutes a “strong woman.”
Expanding on that the next part talks about “the milk of human kindness in their hearts.” This is… .very transparently, whether intentional or not, a clear reference to breast milk? Like I can’t imagine anyone ever saying anything about milk in the hearts of men? And I really think we’re past the point of saying women have to be mothers to be “strong.”
Additionally women really don’t have to be soft and gentle and uwu so kind to be considered strong. Life is fucking hard for women and sometimes you come out the other end of that a harder person. I do think everyone should try and be kind but I don’t think the delicate picture this portrays is the only way to be a “strong woman.”
Next is the part that really got me a bit heated because let me tell you women absolutely do not need to love men to be strong. Not every man on an individual basis is a threat to women sure, but every one of them is seen as a potential threat because every single woman has been threatened by men. With all the bullshit that women have been through at the hands of men, and you better believe I am including transwomen here, we absolutely don’t owe men a damn thing. We don’t owe them are softness, we don’t owe them our innocence, and we don’t owe them our love. But far too often they take those things from us anyways.
Which leads into my final argument when it comes to not being afraid of men. This last point also solidifies for me that the OP really doesn’t understand the struggles of women because as a victim of two sexual assaults in my life I can tell you that every second that I am alone with a man involuntarily, whether im in public or not, is frightening to me. There are women with far worse experiences than mine who are also more than allowed to be afraid of men. And there are women who haven’t had anything as bad as this happen to them and they are still right to be afraid because they know the stories. They know how often this kind of thing happens. And honestly if they weren’t afraid someone would tell them that if they were assaulted it would be their fault for not being careful.
So as a woman I do consider myself of value. Which is really what “strong” directly translates too here.
I am a woman. I am kind, but not to everyone, and certainly not to those who don’t deserve it. I am loving, but not of all men because an unfortunate number of them have decided my body is worth more than my love. I am brave but I am still afraid because I have been taught fear directly by men. And I am still strong. And I am still valuable.
You’re reading WAYYY too far into this. Holy hell.
This is a post with 10,000 plus notes all about the “strength” of women written by a man. I absolutely am not reading too much into this.
Men are able to have valid thoughts about what makes a woman strong too. The happenstance of one’s biological sex does not change the nature of an observation. It’s not the only valid thought. Just one of many.
A woman writing about the strength of men isn’t somehow suspect because their point or view is from a female perspective.
????? Someone’s biological sex absolutely does change the nature of an observation? You cannot make observations on women from the standpoint of experience because you have none??? You took 5 minutes out of your time to detail what makes a woman valuable and I disagreed with it. Your 5 minutes of opinion has reached thousands of people and it affects me as a woman. As the subject you took 5 minutes of time to jot down a checklist for of things that make me strong. So I am allowed to read into it. I am allowed to disagree with it. And I am allowed to voice my opinion as well.
I…ok… Never said you couldnt….or you shouldnt…just objecting in my own “asshole” way
First time in four years I’m stunned into submission. Well done.
By her view point women cannot have an opinion on what makes a man strong or weak. Clearly this person is not a strong woman if your response affected them in such a way.
You heard it here first lads. Voicing your opinion on something you disagree with or find to be potentially damaging is weak.
You saw it here: only on tumblr.com do women find it damaging when seeing a man express his opinions.
This post is a wholesome post. A post about strong women and its damaging in some random way. GG, we have seen it all folks.
Hunty develop some critical thinking skills. It’s definitely not for him to dictate what defines a strong women. He literally says that being scared of men is the opposite of strength which definitely tells you he has zero ability to view things from a female perspective. Can you not see how manipulative it is to say that women can only be strong if they’re soft and kind and love men?
Hunty? Are we back to 2014?? You provided no point on the reblog, just posted a smart ass comment.
Actually if you are a women who is constantly saying men are out to get them and other paranoid statements, then sorry to burst your bubble, you are weak. Also how is he dictating?? Do you know what it means to dictate? He shows he has strong women in his life that have showed him what it means to be strong. If he sees that his mother and grandmother (other women figure in his life) are strong not only due to their actions, but their personality. Why do you get to decide that its wrong? Do you speak for all of us? Are you our dictator? No.
In no way is it manipulative, please go outside and experience life.
My concise arguments clearly aren’t busting through that thick skull so maybe I should just reiterate. “As a father hurting women is bad.” “As a man with strong female relatives I know exactly what women are.” My paranoia stems from real life assault thank you very much and nah I’m not weak for calling out bullshit where I see it. But lmao yes lemme tell you all about how I’m the dictative one for saying there’s a problem with this bozzos set parameters for a “strong woman.” Maybe stop attacking other women just to make yourself loom cool to other men?
Ah, there it is. I was abuse, but I don’t go around saying all men. Maybe see a therapist, they are able to help with paranoia like that.
You really need to work on your reading skills. He isn’t saying he knows what women are; he isn’t dictating what a strong women should be either. He uses the examples he grew up and uses the actions from those women to say they are strong – here say it with me – strong women. He shared his opinion that he is not afraid of strong women due to the female figures in his life.
You aren’t a strong woman. You use your abuse as an excuse to be a cunt to others who you disagree with you. A strong individual would move past their traumatic event, learning from the experience, but not letting it dictate their life. Lol, so women who disagree with you only do it to look cool? So you believe in the idiotic hive mind? Ha! Girl, go outside.
I literally disagreed with a person for perfectly valid reasons and y’all had to come back on and make it clear that for whatever reason that makes me a weak person.
Im really tired of talking circles with you and find it incredibly hilarious that you think my reading skills need help. So with your best interests at heart I’m gonna leave a step by step process of helping yourself.
Step one: read the original post over again and apply some critical thinking.
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