“Lady-like” I can do if needed, but I’m so done with “PC”

Friends, this year I am going all-out, the whole nine yards, lock.stock.barrel. [uncensored].  I am bound to offend lots of people but I really don’t give a damn.  That’s the whole point of a blog, right?  To be able to write as if no one will ever read it but hope that lots of folks do and even better, agree with you?

Ladies and gentlemen, if at any point during the ride you find yourself nauseated, offended or just plain mad at me.. please find your way back to Facebook or Pintrest to better waste your time.

I am [only] 28 years old (well, 27 but only for about 8 more days).  I know that I am still quite young but relatively speaking, I ain’t that young… I’ve voted three (3) times in presidential elections. Much like my other hopes/expectations of men, I can’t say I have been very happy with the outcomes of those..

I have had a variety of relationships including a long one (over 4 years), short (1 night) and the infamous total-waste-of-two-months-of-my-life.  I can still hear myself saying, “Hey, your mother is calling you again, no I won’t be making it to dinner at her house next week, good luck to you, hope you find someone just like her!  Check ya later handsome!”

So, I have had some issues with men… or maybe it’s the men that have issues with me?  I’ll admit, I can be stuck in my ways but I know what I want from a dude. And the pickins are looking pretty slim these days…

I am really pretty easy-going in a relationship. Low maintenance is just kind of my style. You’d think guys would find the laid-back chic more attractive than the whining and needy types. Not the case. It’s pretty amazing what some of my guy friends put up with. It’s even more amazing how many guys I have dated that are more like my girlfriends!

• Sidebar: What’s up with guys wearing skinny jeans?  Dude, GROSS!  You’re a MAN, dress like a man!

I know some men are intimidated by a chic like me.. One guy I dated for a real short period actually straight out told me that he had reservations about dating me because of my outdoor hobbies… What the hell?  Grow a pair then pick up a rod and reel!

I am a bow hunter.  I love it.  I have happily taken two full weeks off of work the past few years to sit in tree-stands during the prime whitetail deer “rut” in hopes of spotting that “monster” buck. Anyone with a serious passion for whitetail bow hunting will tell you it’s like therapy!  If hunting isn’t your forté, that’s fine, but you’re not going to find me playing your stupid video game on a beautiful saturday afternoon.

What about fishing?  Spring time, a little chilly in the morning but when the sun rises high you can actually feel it tanning your face just slightly.  Walking the bank of a river or a trout stream, you start to work up a sweat.  The feeling of complete liberation when you say to yourself “Screw it, these sneakers were only $50 anyway, I’m going to get to that deep hole on the other side, even if it means I’m riding home in my underwear!”  The feeling of sand and mud building up around your toes is actually really soothing. Maybe that’s why I’m such an even-keeled lady?  Screw the manicures, pedicures and facial treatments, let’s go fishing!

So a woman bow hunter and amateur angler thinks she can still pull off “lady-like?” Absolutely! My parents taught my brothers and I to mind our manners! I might do things a little differently than most girls, but I still enjoy getting dolled up for a first date or a girls’ night out. I can hold my own in a political discussion without blowing my top. Although, typically I do have to fight back the urge to provide the liberal ass clowns with a good, ol-fashioned, American ass-whoopin’. I know it wouldn’t do any good… Liberals, just like wussy men, aren’t going to change because some woman beat the hell out of them. Instead, they’d form some kind of government-funded program to bring awareness to the “right-wing-women-extremists” that are abusing the nations skinny-jeans wearing, sorry-as-hell-excuses for American men.

If you’re not repulsed at this point, please check back soon!

TTFN

Feminism 101

Sometime around 2010 a good (guy) friend of mine asked me what feminism meant to me. I think he was taking “Feminism 101” or a “Women Studies” course at the University of Northern Iowa. I kind of laughed at the whole topic at first, I figured he was solely interested in meeting girls.. (and I still don’t doubt that’s why he originally registered for the course.) But he was serious. He was looking for a new take on feminism. He wanted something from a real-live 21st Century woman. I suppose he had gotten his fill of quotes from Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton or some other turn of the century woman activist.

I really had to think about my response. Eventually I answered something to this effect: To me, a feminist is confident and unafraid to take on anything. She is an independent thinker, informed and involved. A feminist takes pride in her beauty. She is strong, independent and competitive. But most of all I think a real feminist recognizes her role as a woman and is happy to be a man’s counterpart. Ladies, you might be as strong and independent as [I think] I am.. but let’s be honest with ourselves.. we can’t and we don’t want to have to be alone.

This got me thinking. Am I a feminist? Yeah, I guess I kind of am… but really what woman isn’t at this point? I wouldn’t dare shave my head or burn my bra to make a statement. (You know, a decent bra runs about $25 these days!) But yes, I would consider myself an advocate for economic, social and political equality for not only women, but for all humans. You’d have to be pretty anti-American to argue against any of that. I am a strong character, self-reliant, stubborn as hell and in an easygoing search for a man tough enough to counter me.

When you think of a tomboy, you probably picture a little girl running around wearing worn, over-sized hand-me-down clothes. Maybe she has a short haircut, dirt under her fingernails and a mean edge about her? I guess that is me, a little more cleaned up and about 20 years later. I am not out to prove anything but I am always excited to try things that are atypical for women. Hunting and fishing are activities that have brought my entire family closer. I wish I knew more women that shared my passion for the outdoors. Hell, I wish I knew more MEN that shared my passion for the outdoors.

I have never tried to write a blog… and I am not really sure where this is going to go… I suppose this blog is targeted at two very different audiences. The first group includes the women like me. Women who are finding that their principles and/or individualities make them misunderstood. The second group [I hope] includes men that are trying to decipher their lady-friends.

TTFN