INAPPROPRIATE

Is pissed-off a swear word?

This is just one of the many debates I have had with people over things that have come out of my mouth that some would call unseemly for a... 'Lady'.  But who calls me that anyways?

Well, a guy did just yesterday.  He was telling a story about a guy who had done something that I am almost POSITIVE will be reiterated on the Rick and Len morning show on WAPL in their "Small Town Crime Wave" segment. The story came to a part in which the individual involved was engaging in some rather nasty behavior, and he said "....well, I hate to say this with a LADY present"-- which I suppose was thoughtful, but every time someone says something like that I TOTALLY snicker to myself. Why?

Ever since I was a kid I have had a mouth and activity level that was wayyy more acceptable in boys than in girls.  The boys would be loud, obnoxious, destructive, and wild; and people would just say "Boys will be boys." I would be loud, obnoxious, destructive and wild, and I got medicated. I would hear "oh that Monica," because, well; you see, girls just don't act that way.

 It's INAPPROPRIATE.

SO. Here I am, as an adult now, still getting in trouble for saying things and doing things that-- if I were a man-- no one would even bat an eye at.  I hold back A LOT in what I say and do, so when I saw a post this morning admonishing to "be yourself",  I kinda snickered and thought, boy would THAT get me in trouble...
Please understand this, I love being a woman and am comfortable with my sex, don't worry, I am not going to be posting as Malcom Barden sporting a goatee next week or anything like that, that's not the point.  What would be really cool is to really be myself, and I DO think I am getting closer to that... I think I may be one of those people that God placed on this earth to tweak the status quo; waking some up from their routine lives that they have become so firmly established in that even the Cleaver's would consider them a bit stodgy, I DO believe that a monkeywrench well thrown at times can do a LOT of good.

What I would REALLY like to see is for it to be okay to not fit the generalizations that are placed on men and women, either way. I am a woman who doesn't much like shopping, chick flicks, romance novels, staying at home, or anything flowery.  I DO like power tools, weightlifting, being loud and rowdy, crass humor, and much, much more.

I think it is a dangerous thing to categorize people into ANY neat and tidy little categories in which we should fit all of the assumed criteria.  How about we all be ourselves, knowing that these very aberrations in personality are what gives us people like George Sand, Marie Curie, Baryshnikov, Frederic Chopin, Joan of Arc, Deborah.... well THIS list could go on indefinitely; those who had personalities that totally blew apart traditional male/female stereotypes of the time; those who did something DIFFERENT and AMAZING and that's why you recognize their names...

So. Can we PLEASE just pitch the male/female stereotypes?
PLEASE?

Or am I pissing you off?