Women's Turn

In 2013, I posted a thread called "What Makes a Man?" on STR. I read the article in Esquire (fascinating mag for men); I told everyone to have fun w it or you could be serious.

Well, it's the women's turn: What Makes a Woman?

Same fun/seriousness applies ...

 

By now, all the sensible men will have run to the hills. Your question is not unlike, "Does this dress make my butt look big?" Opening ones mouth at this point is foolhardy, as no good can come from it.

Clearly, my brothers on iMtbTrails possess great wisdom, caught scent of your girlness, and took refuge before they could be entrapped.

[backing away slowly without making direct eye contact]

 

As a "dude" I feel I can not answer this question.

 

Knowing how to get away with murder, due to lots of experience cleaning up blood. *sees scared men above*

 

C'mon Rox; that's easy.

A Vagina

 

Yep Kells, we're sitting on a treasure chest, treat it as one. :lol:

 

Thats a loaded question, other than the obvious, I would say most women are nurturing, hopeless romantics and can multitask like no other, just to name a few qualities off the top of my head.

 

Ok, since you're all chickensh*t (well, Herz hasn't seen this thread - I look forward to his input...sensibility, compassion and experience will ensue) I'll give you my definition:

She possesses confidence, exudes sexiness w/o trying. Can laugh at herself and not take herself too seriously. She needs not be smart but have intellect. She drops the insecurity, jealousy and batsh*t crazy behavior.

Most importantly, she rides and drinks beer!!

 

A "treasure chest" is a dusty, moldy box that smells as if it's been buried under a coconut tree by the lagoon.

Seriously, Rox, I'm sure it's not THAT bad...

 

I thought she was a deaf, dumb, and blind, nymphomaniac that owns a liquor store! :shock:

 

Aww, but once it's cleaned, demolded and unburied, it is filled w glittery, sparkling gems, jewels and gold ...

 

Hmmmm.....

Smart, good sense of humor, doesn't need affirmation every second, self-reliant but not self-centered, understands and appreciates the differences between men and women, can play in the stereotypical man's world (bikes, beers, sports, toys) but isn't trying to be a man or look like a man, laughs at Caddyshack and The Simpsons, high tolerance for thoughtlessness, great "assets"....

That's all I can think of at the moment. I am sure I'll add more.

 

Gems, jewels, gold... the eternal allure.

Y'know, there are plenty of stories of guys who spend all their spare time and hard-earned money in search of the chest. Most of the time, they strike out and never get the treasure. Other times, they actually find the buried treasure, only to discover that the box does not contain what they expected. But that's ok, half the fun is in the quest. We're still talking about hidden pirate booty, right? Arrrr!

 

Two X chromosomes.

Psychologically, or personality-wise, I don't find there's anything that would generally define a woman. I believe it's all about how they grew up, were raised, what kind of environment they exposed themselves to. Saying otherwise is just stereotyping, and setting yourself up to be surprised or disappointed when the stereotypes turn out to be untrue. There's guys that have all traits mentioned above and girls who have none of them.

I am curious about some profiling stereotypes though. There's quite a few, like hair color determining personality, but one I wonder if is statistically proven is that healthy-weight women with large boobs are more motherly and caring. I'm kind of hoping that it's disproven, but it could be part of some hormone or DNA genome sequencing pattern.

If I knew the conditions one grew up in, such as regional culture, seeing how they were raised, methods used by their parents, if they had responsibility with pets, had younger siblings, ability to make lasting close friendships, etc. I'd be able to make limited generalizations. Maybe SoCal women are more outdoorsy, freedom loving, and social. I do wonder how kids who are growing up attached to mobile electronics, who choose to fit in and associate with any group of their choosing, picking up crude internet humor, criticism, and general distance interaction in the form of 4chan memes, snapchat, selfies, popularity contests getting "likes", views, friend counts, followers/subscribers, etc. will fare in when they grow up. Are they going to rely on things like Tinder?

Uh, ya, probably not the answer you wanted, or expected, but that's how I roll.

 

YES!!!!! Varaxis never lets us down for a "unique" take on things!

 

Perhaps the better question is, how does today's society shape how women act today.

- TV programming scheduled specifically to target stay-at-home women. If only non-women knew how much of an impact this has...
- The idolizing of certain traits of beauty, such as perfect skin complexion, a "radiantly healthy" look, and a trim teenage-like body. This has made women overly self-conscious of their appearance, and brainwashed men.
- Any sort of targeting at women, including women magazines...
- Tradition, not only including family tradition... some traditions of giving men jobs requiring strength, and women with jobs requiring care and accuracy, actually make sense.

 

I'll tell you what makes my woman:

Zero complaining
Tough as nails
Compassionate to all living things
Whip smart
Unwaveringly coolheaded
Appreciates dead air
Understanding of the male condition

Bonus: Rides MTB, doesn't drink

 

Zzzzzzzz...oops, sorry, did you say something?? :lol:

 

You know, it's kind of funny reading these kind of things if you look at "pairings" between men and women and imagine that they are opposites that attract. That means if a guy thinks a woman should cook, clean, be smart, selfless, caring, sexy and romantic, then that guy is the opposite of all that (can't cook, is a "pig", stupid, selfish, cold hearted, awkward, and has poor sense of ambiance suiting certain events).

*puts on rose-colored, err... mirrored shades*

*wonders what an opposite guy would have to be to be paired with a girl that likes to twerk*

*wonders if his satire is enough to defuse this bomb of a thread*

 

I forgot one: Thinks bald is sexy (or at least pretends to think so).

But - all ye gents listing the preferred traits of females look at yourselves in the mirror and repeat after me "thank god women don't need the visual stimulation that men do..." :shh:

 

Ohh Dan, you have this thread wrong....

And "opposites attract" has nothing to do w skills, talents and hygiene, it's about extroverts and introverts.

This thread was to be fun and light - stop taking things so seriously.

 

I'm with Varaxis on this. It has so much to do with how, where, and with who you grew up with. What you surround yourself with, etc.

 

Give it up, Rox, you are advising a digital entity. I swear, for the longest time I thought Varaxie was a MTB programmer's text generator. No offense, bro...it wouldn't be the same without ya! Clack on!


Edit: Okay then, open your texbooks everyone...

 

This works!

 

All i know is if she can ride the Floop in an hour then she's a keeper.

 

Love your posts Varaxis!

Just so ya know.....breast size has absolutely nothing to do with milk production, so I find it hard to believe breast and body size would correspond to "nurturing" characteristics either. I'm also not sure what exactly you mean by "healthy-weight". I think healthy is a better word without the "weight" attached to it. I myself was considered underweight (slightly) for my height when I conceived both my kiddos, and can easily rank among board members of the IBTC. However, I had absolutely ZERO trouble producing so much food for my babies I was able to donate the excess. I have large-breasted friends who had trouble producing and keeping up. I also don't think I had any diminished feelings of affection toward my children than any of my girlfriends, no matter their size. I think it's more personality than anything, and that's both nature and nurture IMO

Personally, I think it's more about compatibility than some stock definition of what makes a man or woman: "you can be flawed enough, but perfect for a person. Someone who will be there for you when you fall apart. Guiding your direction when you're riding through the dark." -Alecia Moore and Dallas Green

I was lucky to find my missing piece early on. Luckier still after all these years and all the Batsh*t-crazy stuff I repeatedly do he's always by my side; even if some of the time he's got to lasso me back down to earth to be there :lol:

 

Yes, I was trying to imply it was more of a personality thing too. An example being, a large breasted women having their nurse or mom instincts kick in if they see and pity a distressed boy who fell and got a scrape, move up and take responsibility, possibly over-reacting to the situation and considering all the worst-case scenarios, while another might just find humor in how the boy fell treating it as a minor normal occurrence and letting things flow. Motherly types, in my definition, are much more defensive and protective of those they care for, willing to put themselves into harms way, doing something totally out-of-character or unreasonable, to protect them. I see small breasted women and even men with this same trait. I was curious since it wasn't a commonly accepted stereotype, and it's in my nature to be skeptical, particularly against things that might be misinformation. By healthy-weight, I mean not morbidly obese, though I wonder if you can call how protective they are of their meal as motherly, with how their tempers would flare and threaten to kill you if you messed with their food. I kid, I kid!

The opposites thing was a joke. Apparently when rox quoted it, the hidden text was still too unnoticeable. This is my version of "light". Trust me, if I were being serious, there would be textbook-like articles being quoted and many paragraphs in my wall-of-texts posts. Just poking fun at stereotypes and sort of lamenting how the world has become so disorderly with everyone wanting individual freedom. This kind of thread can get a bit crazy, with many subconsciously knowing so and therefore protecting their own image, so I felt I had to take up the antagonist's role to defuse this, by going against stereotyping. In a way, you can say my actions support feminism, if you go by its official definition.

 

What experiences do you have, I'm curious? I'm having trouble identifying patterns based on my very limited personal experiences getting to know the background of girls I meet. I remember a tomboy girl friend I had (platonic), whose mother was the complete opposite of her. Heavy make-up, bleached curled hair, left the biological dad and soon after dated the police officer who lived next door to them. Her best friend was one of the more popular girls in school, not for style, but more of a classy type, who I also hung out with, and upon visiting her home once I found it was extremely traditional and conservative. One of my best friend's sister was sort of opposite to her mother, trying to be super fashion conscious, styled hair, brand name clothes, jewelry, while her mother (and my friend) were sickly, simple-is-best types. I have two younger sisters and one turned out to be a live at home crazy cat lady (had no cats before I left home), and my other sister had a similar quiet and book smart personality as me and found a boyfriend to live with when she was at college. I found him rather weird when she introduced him to me, as he attached himself to me. He was like a loyal grown up pet or something, offering loving companionship. I've never seen anyone like that before. When I came home to visit from the military, I read her FB posts announcing it and she answered some of her friends questions saying she believed that she was close to me, yet I spent hardly any time with her. Maybe she's been watching me from behind.

I guess emphasis should be placed on "what you choose to let yourself be exposed to". You can be exposed to tradition, or SoCal's living large and fashionista environment, but it's up to the individual to control how it shapes them, rejecting some and accepting others. Watch a bit too much Maury, Oprah, Springer, HSN, or whatever, and you can become shaped by it, even if you say you reject it and just watch it to understand how other women are affected by it. Rejecting it shapes you too, just not the same way as those who accepted it. Applies to everything, such as watching the Simpsons, South Park, or what you choose to do on the net, or what trails you choose to ride, or what riding buddies you choose to ride with. Ride with fast riders, and you're shaped by them. Ride alone or with noobs, on trails that aren't too easy nor too hard for you and you are shaped accordingly.

I believe successful coupling can be simply be formed by tolerant companionship, building up to camaraderie over time. A partner having a major trait that you highly value, such as being great in bed, being a great cook, bringing in lots of money, etc. could just be bonus incentives.

 

My wife, my sister, and close friends.

My wife grew up in Long Beach, in a broken home. Even lived in a battered women's shelter w/ her mom and little brother for a few months when her mom left the dad. The dad was abusive to wife and kids. But, spoiled them with toys, clothing, jewelry, etc. In her teens she did everything she could to distance herself from that lifestyle. She surrounded herself around loving, caring people (hippies). My wife isn't even a tiny fraction of what her dad is/was. We have two boys, 7 & 3 years old. My wife devotes 100% of herself and time to these two lucky guys. So much so, that our relationship suffers because of it. She has so much love for these boys that it almost seems uncommon. And, quite frankly makes me question my love for them. To the point where it makes me feel selfish at times. I think what she is doing is very unselfish. She is committed to making sure that our sons NEVER have to experience anything close to the childhood she had.

My sister is truly a product of her environment. Growing up she played sports, went camping, and wasn't afraid to take chances. She lived life. Now, she is a direct reflection of her husband. To whom she has been married to for 24 years. Now, she is overweight and out of shape. She is a hypochondriac and afraid to take any risks. She claims that she suffers from several "conditions". Doesn't let her 22 year old son wipe his own ass. ok, maybe not that bad. but, I'm trying to get my point across here. She is like this now, because of her husband. As, he is the same way. It is rather saddening.

I have two close girl friends that I have known since elementary school. Both of them grew up in the picture perfect households. Both were cheerleaders and asb in high school. Went on to college, got degrees, got jobs, and got married. Both of them are living the amerikan dream with their families. However, one of them is dealing with a teenage boy that has gone astray. He started hanging out w/ some bad kids....and, whammo next thing who know. He is getting into trouble too. It is almost to the point to where they might be moving soon.

It's all about what you are surrounded by. Heck, if I would have listened to my dad and hung out with the asb crowd and been involved with the school. I would probably be some corporate stiff w/ a big degree and a life I hate. I sure am glad I chose my own path, cause if I didn't I would have never got into BMX which led to MTB, which eventually led me to ImtbTrails.

 

We need to get back to the two-drink minimum on this thread...too many rational, thoughtful comments for a Mountain Bike group.