Not really encouragement, I was trying to put what she was saying into perspective for you, why she would be so upset by your initially comment. When she responded a bit pissed off, you had the opportunity to clarify, but you immediately went on the offensive, because I guess you assume that she should just “get over it”. At this point, I think most people here assume that you believe that the maintenance of gender norms is just from a “shrill” minority (which if you think about it, is kind of a gender-loaded term – who are considered shrill? Men? No, mostly women, right?), rather than a systemic issue that needs to be addressed by all of us. She may have overreacted a bit–fair enough–but she was reacting to what you said, which made it seem like the daily struggle that women go through, often on a daily basis, is unimportant and just in our presumable PMS adled brains that can only be soothed by chocolates and shopping sprees.
So, yeah. Think a bit harder about how our society treats women, what is expected out of, and the kinds of pressure that can exert on us. Can we rise above, sure as shit, we can, but it’s there and it’s constant. And it really fucking sucks. It would also be helpful to listen to us when we tell you how this all makes us feel and not just dismiss it because it doesn’t conform with your perception of reality.
EDITED for clarity of thought.
