Religion.
Politics.
Sports.
These
are three topics I tend to avoid discussing, largely for the same
shared reasons. Childish name calling/belittling, omitting/editing facts
to support one's argument, total lack of willingness to even try to see
the other's side of things, girding one's loins with the "knowledge"
that one's self is 110% correct.
Sports is a
subject swathed in trash-talking. It's difficult to hear a discussion
about sports without it, even if the participants are commiserating.
But, with the recent standings in football, one irksome "put down" has
been bandied around quite a bit and I take umbrage with it.
"The Dallas Cowgirls"
Now, please forgive my capitalized, italicized, underlined, bold expletive...
How the FUCK is that a put down?!?!?!
Are women generally pathetic, and by some fluke I happen to meet/interact with the exceptions to the rule?
Now, for the sake of this post, the term of "girl" shall represent female, without bearing on age.
My mother is a girl.
She's awesome, and part of the reason I am who I am.
(And, most people like the man I've become.)
My girlfriend is a girl.
She's smart, strong, and witty.
(Actually, the list goes on and on.)
Her daughter is a girl.
She's also smart, creative, and funny.
(Her list goes on as well.)
Many of my friends and relatives are girls.
There is a plethora of wonderful traits shared by them all.
Several of my friends have daughters, who are girls.
Strong, intelligent, compassionate, etc.
(And some of them are JUST GETTING STARTED!!)
We just rang in 2015... or was it 1815??
Recently,
in the news, a small plane crashed in a wooded area of Kentucky. The
sole survivor was a seven year old, who walked almost a mile, alone in
that dark, cold, forest wearing shorts, a light shirt and one sock, while
nursing a broken wrist, until coming upon a house and some help. She
was just a girl.
Now, I'm a fairly tough guy,
but I don't want to imagine the hell she went through. And, I guarantee
you, if some of those trash talkers were in her position, they'd be
crying for their mamas! (Who is also, as you may have surmised, a girl)
Now, the salt in the wound is the fact that I've seen several girls use that very same put down!
WHAT?!?!
I called one of them out on it, and her response was, and this is an exact quote...
"I don't know. I learned the term from a bunch of MEN that got me into watching football and it seemed correct. 
"
"
WHAT?!?!
Reading
this, I had toyed with the thought of responding with instructions for
her to turn off the game and to get back into the kitchen "where she
belonged"*, just to see what her reaction would have been, but I decided
against it. I just left it sit, for as a man wiser than I once said...
*Obviously, I don't believe this, but I do like to play Devil's Advocate from time to time.
