Her Culture Bi-Monthy Magazine August/September 2015 | Page 71

THEY SAY…
...
Women have good handwriting, they say, as her teachers go blind from squinting at the
chicken scratch that decorates her paper. They give her A's out of desperation. She crows
triumphantly, breaks all her pencils in two, and goes out to
buy a word processor.
...
Women are weak, they say. The woman slams down on
the instep of his foot with her four-inch stiletto. The
woman lifts her bloodied heel in supplication to the gods,
her eyes shining in glory. The woman collects penance
once a year from her former husbands in the form of
tubes of blood. They shine in an array of crimson.
...
Women who follow women's stereotypes are living in the
past, they say. The stay at home mother is adhering to
society’s expectations. She abandons her children during
an impromptu trip to Walmart. They are found prowling the
streets after midnight with nothing but the clothes on their
backs and bread crusts in their hands. When asked for
their names, they whisper “Hansel and Gretel” and throw
crumbs into the sky like confetti.
…
Women are crazy, they say. Women are mad. Women are the hellhounds that hunt men to
their doom. The woman smiles. The woman laughs. The woman cooks a five-course dinner
and divorces her husband in one fell stroke. The woman cannot dispute any of the above.

71