I am Woman

I get various Bible Study/devotional emails several times a week. Many are wonderful. Some less so. Some are, quite frankly, just offensive. And sometimes they start out one way and end up somewhere totally different. Earlier this week, I was reading one of the latter. I was totally on board until I got about 3/4 of the way through. Where it said:

“There are few things less appealing than a bossy woman with a dirty mouth. If we want our words to carry weight, we need to frame them carefully. In a world where our gender is encouraged to settle back and take second place, it is comforting to know there are women, like you, who are bravely rising up and taking charge of their futures.”

And I absolutely saw red. And I said what the hell.  Because sometimes I'm bossy and have a dirty mouth. As is clear from the previous statement. And I thought, why in the world should I have to be anything other than who I am?  Why should I have to say anything in a certain way so as not to offend?  Why can't I just speak the truth as I believe it, without worrying about whether I'm being too bossy or too crass or too whatever?

I'm not saying that we all, men and women, shouldn't be careful to speak things with love and conviction but also to be aware of our audience and the best way to say things so that they might be received in the way we intend for them to be received. But the fact that I should do so because I'm a woman just sent me over the edge. And this was another woman who was telling me this. Which makes it far worse.

So if you’re expecting me to be a well-behaved, meek and mild women who doesn’t speak unless spoken to, you might want to rethink your expectations. Because that ain’t me. And I hope it never is.