Dear Cosmopolitan,
Recently I was scrolling through the discovery portion on Snapchat when one of your articles caught my eye. The 11 Grossest Things Guys Wear On Dates. Confused and almost strangely unsettled, I clicked on it. All it had were rude comments about things guys wore, which granted, I guess I should have expected. But my question is why.
If a man (or even a woman) wrote an article (jokingly or not) on what girls should and shouldn't wear the world would be up in arms. Our body our choice! Wear what makes us comfortable! We don't need someone telling us what to do, say, or act! They would all cry. And they're right. I would like to see someone try and tell me I can't wear my favorite shoes, or favorite shirt. I would get mad that someone could be so shallow and think they have that kind of power over me, and a little hurt that they were judging me so harshly.
SO, tell me, why do girls think they can do this.
We should all be treating each other fairly and equal. We need to stop shutting men down over the smallest of things. We'll never progress otherwise. Do females need their equal rights? You will never hear me say otherwise. We females do have a lot to deal with. But that doesn't mean that we have to shame men in ways that we don't want to be shamed.
For as long as I can remember I was always taught "do unto others as you would have them to do to you." And to " practice what you preach. " These are things I try to teach my little siblings and their friends as well. I don't know, but maybe you need to go have more conversations with some kids, because they reteach these things to me almost every time they stand up to the bullies in the neighborhood who didn't learn these things.
On one occasion I was one of those bullies. I tried to send my brother back inside for not matching his clothes whatsoever, and the girls and boys immediately rallied behind him saying that they didn't care what he wore, and If he was happy I should be too. They were right, and I let him be. I even went so far as to turn his hat backwards like how he had had it before, which, according to you makes them look like "they just fell out of bed... and take their greasy hair and cover it up with a backwards cap" . If boys like their hats on backwards, who cares? Maybe it's greasy, maybe it's not. But If a man ever commented on your greasy hair I can almost guarantee it would be World War III. We shouldn't judge people on how they dress.
If little ones can understand this, then so should you.
Now don't get me wrong, we of course do have freedom of speech. But it seems it unfortunately takes a great strength to exercise control and be nonjudgemental. I hope one day you can learn to not criticize people so harshly, and to write about men like how most would want females to be written. If we want to be treated right, then we ought to offer the same courtesy.
Yours sincerely,
A fed up female.
